Carols to celebrate the new year in La Macarena

Alumbra navidad 2022

A spectacle about New Year's in the Macarena neighborhood, developed with neighbors and residents..

explore the pieces in
play

Throughout history, different cultures have celebrated the changes of annual cycles, the rebirth of harvests or the new light at the winter solstice. Our modern Christmas rituals, among their religious stories, keep traces of these origins, as well as of the Saturnalia, with its carnivalesque dimension and celebration around a shared meal. From these previous stories, we are attracted to that of Janus, presiding over everything related to change and from whose name comes January (from the Latin iānuārius), the beginning of the new year.

To think of a space in which all sensibilities and ways of celebrating (or not) Christmas in the Macarena, with its diverse neighbors, have a place, we think of a hospitable Janus, who opens the doors (iānuā) and the new times. Its two faces look both to the time that is leaving or the place that is left, as well as to that new space and time that opens up for us, at home, in the neighborhood or in a new country.

We have been working in the neighborhood the last few months collecting memories and songs associated with Christmas, to remix them into possible new carols with our extended family. A family woven in the last 5 years since we started developing art and education projects in Macarena.

In the show that you are about to witness, we want to share this work, we open the door of our house..

the emigrant...

The story of Janus

A long time ago, in a time when magic and mythology reigned, a small boat, manned by a young man named Janus, reached the shores of Lazio, the ancient city we know today as Rome, after a long and dangerous sea voyage.

Janus was the son of Uranus and Hecate, gods of heaven and earth. The young man had been expelled from his homeland, the region of Thessaly in ancient Greece.

A stranger in Lazio, his new home, he was welcomed with hospitality and pleasure by King Cameses. They became such good friends that they even ruled together. When Cameses died, he left his friend and companion, Janus, as king of the city. Janus was very good at reigning, so much so that he made the region grow in a time of abundance and peace among its inhabitants.

The myth also tells that some time later Saturn arrived on the shores of Lazio, God of agriculture and crops, expelled and banished as Janus.

Janus was a just man, so remembering how Cameses welcomed him, opened the doors of his city and his house to Saturn, received and welcomed him while he recovered and regained strength.

Janus, in Roman mythology, became the god of doors and gates, guarding the beginnings and entrances, the transitional paths and the endings. Janus was depicted with two opposing faces: two faces also look inward and outward, looking east and west, the past and the future, thus balancing the cosmos.

In ancient Rome, the Saturnalia were celebrated in December, the pagan festivals in honor of Saturn, a feast with abundant food when the sowing of the crops was finished,

and the first month of the new year, our January, was named in honor of Janus: Januarius So, although we no longer remember, Janus is the doorman who opens and closes the doors of the year with his keys, which he always carries in one hand.

The end of the year symbolized change and transitions, the passage from the past to the future, from one condition to the next and the growth of the young into adulthood.

So let us celebrate the entry of the year together with Janus, who opens the doors with his keys to a new adventure.

work with...

Creation process

The working process included initial research, composition of musical pieces and stories, as well as rehearsals and staging for a live audiovisual show for the public during Christmas.

We started the process in October, searching for possible collectives and collaborators in the neighborhood to participate in the show. We contacted the Coro Alegría, a music group from the Cerezo neighborhood, with musician Renny Jackson (member of the AMPA at CEIP San José Obrero), with Anusha, singer and mother of Noemí (who had previously participated in another project with us), and with local radio station Integración Radio.

After gathering memories from participants about how they lived and remembered this festive period from their life experience, we began working on the creation and musical composition of the pieces that we would perform at the show with the students. We invited students who had participated in previous projects and knew they'd be interested in the experience (Banda Sanjomix and Banda barrio).. We really wanted to develop this project with them.
Alegría Choir
Interviews participants show

Christmas back and forth

A fundamental part of articulating the show was collecting musical and experiential memories from the people participating in the project. To do this, we recorded small videos where we shared memories of how we lived and felt during the Christmas festive period and which music we associated with these memories.
Christmas back and forth
Christmas
Estefania
Bárbara
Noemi y Anusha
Lilia and Vicky
Fran and Rubén
Lift
Vlad and Paco
Family dinner

Premiere

After many ups and downs in finding the perfect spot for our representation, including inexplicable problems with people managing other spaces in the district, we decided to stick with the auditorium of San José Obrero. It was a wise decision, as the school - besides being our workplace with the students - is also a meeting point for various associations and projects from the neighborhood. We thought it was the ideal place to meet up with the public that came to see us, loaded with symbolism, since it's where our educational project was born and developed.

We remember with great joy the family-like atmosphere and celebration that surrounded a table where we shared food, music, and life stories with the attending audience. The party couldn't have ended better. Hebe had 'prepared' us a piñata at the entrance of the school, where we enjoyed the gifts inside while the La Alegría choir sang Christmas carols outside.

Credits

design and development: Fran Torres, Rubén Alonso, Victoria Brause and Hebe Kiebooms.

colaboran: Estefanía Campos, Vladislav Garlov, Lilia Gharzaryan, Noemí Jaisi, Israel Pozo, Alba Vega, with the special collaboration of Renny Jackson, Nandkali Thapa Magar (Anusha Thapa) and the "Alegría" Choir.

regiduría: Eloisa Cantón

institution: ICAS (Seville City Council)

place: Sevilla

audiovisual documentation: Alejandro Sanchez

photographs: Lolo Vasco

Acknowledgements: we would like to thank CEIP San José Obrero and its AMPA for welcoming us as part of the family and Marisol Azuzena from Punto Latino.

year: 2022