There’s nothing fairly like Christmas in Puerto Rico. The teeny tiny Caribbean island is understood for having the longest vacation season in your complete world, which lasts from the top of November right through the center of January. Boricuas rejoice the season like nobody else. We love any and each festive event as a result of we treasure spending time with household and mates. We’re additionally obsessive about good meals and delightful music.

A spotlight of Puerto Rican Christmas festivities is the parrandas, that are mainly nightly Christmas caroling parades that occur in particular person neighborhoods all all through the Christmas season, and the star of these parrandas are the Puerto Rican aguinaldos a.ok.a. Christmas carols. Whereas most mainland Individuals are past aware of the beloved tune “Feliz Navidad” by José Feliciano, it is from the island’s solely unique Christmas tune.

Aguinaldos — the phrase means “presents” — in and of themselves are a cultural custom in Puerto Rico. In reality, they are a custom that has really was a type of resistance and a logo of unity amongst Puerto Ricans. We personal our Christmas traditions and largely put apart our variations to assemble collectively and sing and dance joyfully to the songs all of us bear in mind from our childhoods. These nostalgic songs are like a yearly reminder that it doesn’t matter what the federal government is or is not doing or how abysmal and unbalanced the economic system is, we’re all Boricua.

Puerto Ricans refuse to let American and Euro-centric symbols of Christmas overshadow our personal vacation traditions, and similar to celebrating on Noche Buena with pernil, pitorro, arroz con gandules and coquito, aguinaldos have develop into a logo of our shared heritage. Aguinaldos are nonetheless carried out with conventional Puerto Rican devices like cuatros, güiros and panderas. And whereas some are non secular, many are carried out within the criollo type, representing our numerous ancestry. Removed from generic Christmas carols, aguinaldos typically reference tenets of Puerto Rican tradition and recall our huge and sophisticated historical past. Like a lot Puerto Rican music, the songs are sung with satisfaction and uncooked emotion. As we finish every year and begin one anew, aguinaldos remind us who we’re, the place we come from, and what actually issues in life.

This Noche Buena, we’re blasting our favourite aguinaldos much more mindfully than ever earlier than, as a result of, nicely . . . there may be simply a lot happening on the planet that’s unsure, however what’s not, is how sturdy and resilient we’re as a individuals. To get within the Christmas spirit we suggest you play these Puerto Rican Christmas carols on repeat.