Around the crib: carols and nougats

Christmas has had a variety of customs and traditions, including nativity scenes, carols and turrones. In Navarre we can trace this, always bearing in mind that, as a festival, it has a plurality of constants around fun and entertainment: family gatherings, festivities in the streets and squares, the breaking of social order with the lifting of certain vetoes, wastefulness, dances, songs and excesses in food and drink. Like all festivals, Christmas festivities have also been a dynamic phenomenon, with traditions that have been maintained, others that have been lost, and still others that have reappeared or been created over the years.  

On this occasion, we will discuss some aspects of the three components mentioned above: nativity scenes, nougat and Christmas carols. Three elements of different origins, but which fit perfectly into the festive celebrations of the Christmas period with a singular harmony.

Nougat

Fernando Serrano, in his outstanding programs of study, provides very interesting data . Thus, he provides data from the beginning of the 17th century on the prices in Pamplona of white nougat and Alicante nougat, which was slightly more expensive, also documenting red nougat, made with lighter honeys than black and marzipan nougat. He also reports on the complaint and lawsuit in which the Viana confectioner Martín de Zugarrondo was involved, for not having enough nougat to supply Viana in 1687, something he was obliged to do, particularly at Christmas, at a time when the consumption of nougat had already become popular. The aforementioned confectioner was fined twice "for not having nougat for Christmas Day, being obliged to do so by his official document, despite his complaints, in which he acknowledges that he has not been making them for more than ten years, as he is a very old man and suffers from some ailments and to make the aforementioned nougat he needs a lot of time work".

Cover of the book Arte de repostería by Juan de la Mata, published in Pamplona in 1756. Private collection

In the ordinances drawn up in 1819 at the request of the Cortes de Navarra for confectioners, which never came into force, the preparation of nougat is discussed in detail at subject : "That all types of nougat, both white and red, should be made; The white with the whitest honey possible, cleaning the pine nuts of their houses and rancid, toasting them very well and crushing them and passing them through a sieve, adding the whites of fresh eggs corresponding to the shell that it is, giving it the necessary point, reducing it to cakes or bars as he sees fit, and in this way all the other almond or hazelnut shells that are worked, with the exception of marzipan, which must be worked by giving the clarified sugar to the almonds, which are well cleaned, dried and chopped. The egg whites are then beaten into the corresponding whites, and the almonds are then chopped or grated, and the whipped almonds are then stiffened accordingly. The honey is poured into the pot where it is toasted with the same honey, giving it the necessary point that the official considers necessary before and after pouring in the fruit and having the table ready, it is drained and reduced to cakes or bars".

Cover of the edition of the confectionery book by the Olite confectioner Elías Gómez, (1818). Edition by R. Ciérbide, J. Corcín and F. Serrano.

The Libro de Confitura (Confectionery Book) by the Olite confectioner Elías Gómez, published by R. Ciérbide, J. Corcín and F. Serrano, dates from 1818. It contains recipes for making, among others, marzipan, nougat of Alagón, orange, lemon, grana or cinnamon, guirlache, Portugal, Indiano, snow, Alicante, Jijona...etc.

The cloistered nuns also had and still have their own recipes, some of which are recorded in handwritten copies. The Christmas menus from the 18th century onwards include nougat and marzipan from the convent kitchen.

 
Showcase with tablets of different varieties of nougat in Pastelería Barsan, Pamplona 2010. Photo J. M. Garzarón, Diario de Navarra

Christmas carols: from classical to popular music

The nativity scene in homes, convents and churches generated a whole explosion of popular soul in literature and music, of unequal value. From polyphonic carols to Ave Marias pastorelas in the familiar six-by-eight time signature, a long repertoire of auroras, popular carols and Christmas carols can still be traced among the elderly. Some of the surviving poetry is reminiscent of the ancient texts of the Oficium Pastorum. Of particular interest are also the versifications of the auroras of the villages that have preserved the secular lyrics and melodies.

Pamplona Cathedral required its chapel master at the end of the 18th century to compose 36 carols, seven of which were for Christmas. From 1730 onwards, the lyrics were monitored to prevent "anything not corresponding to the gravity of the Divine Offices". In the collegiate church of Tudela, the chapel master was also obliged to compose carols for Christmas Eve. Recently, we have been able to document that in some cloistered convents, such as the Benedictine nuns of Estella, carol compositions were requested from masters from the city or from Alfaro in the second third of the 18th century. At the Comendadoras de Puente la Reina, it was forbidden in 1762 that "it should never be allowed that, during the time of Easter and Epiphany, carols called "de chanza" should be sung after Vespers. The latter expression was used to refer to particularly festive, humorous and even burlesque compositions. Some Christmas carols bore this subtitle "de chanza", as in the Jácara de Fandanguillo (c. 1733) by Juan Francés de Iribarren from San Sebastián. A controversy arose in Valencia Cathedral in 1759 about the jocular, carnivalesque and genuinely slapstick nature of a Christmas carol.

Traditional Christmas reading and carol lyrics in 19th century manuscript copy. Private collection

Some parish music archives preserve scores of carols, mainly from the second half of the 19th century, some with arrangements to be performed on different instruments. Some belong to local masters, others are copies of the successful ones by Mariano García Zalba and other organists and musicians from Pamplona Cathedral. The 20th century does not seem to have been so creative, as it was generally a time when printed scores by famous composers were performed.

The pastoral instruments, zambombas, huge tambourines adorned with bells, bells, irrillos, tambourines and tambourines of the 18th and 19th centuries bear witness to the religious and anthropological richness of the Christmas festivities. The lyrics of many of the melodies sung in the streets and squares often featured people and popular types from the villages.

To find out more

CIÉRBIDE, R., CORCÍN, J. and SERRANO, F., Libro de confitura para el uso de Elías Gómez, maestro cerero y confitero de la ciudad de Olite, año de 1818, Pamplona, Gobierno de Navarra, 2006.
FERNÁNDEZ GRACIA, R., Christmas in Pamplona Cathedral. Ritos, fiesta y arte, Pamplona, department de Historia del Arte. University of Navarre, 2007
FERNÁNDEZ GRACIA, R., Tras las celosías. Patrimonio material e inmaterial en las clausuras de Navarra, Pamplona, University of Navarra and Fuentes Dutor Foundation, 2018.
SERRANO LARRÁYOZ, F., "El gremio de pasteleros de Pamplona y su rules and regulations durante el siglo XVII", Studium: Revista de Humanities, núm. 16, (2020), pp. 105-139