The Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) has published on its website a section of resources for Christmas: prayers, readings… and a musical playlist to accompany this liturgical season. One might think that, being an episcopal proposal, it would at least be a selection of popular carols or Advent and Christmas liturgical songs, designed to help live these holidays with recollection and Christian meaning. But no.
The Spanish bishops have chosen—if they really were the ones—five songs that range from Taylor Swift, pure Anglo-Saxon pop, to Hakuna and its usual emotionalism, passing through the Canon in D major by Pachelbel, a classical work valid for any time of year; an electronic and softened version of Adeste fideles; and, finally, a religious pop song by Ángel Catela.
- Christmas Tree Farm (Old time version) by Taylor Swift
- Hoy en Belén by Hakuna
- Canon en Re mayor by Johann Pachelbel.
- Adeste fideles
- Maravillas by Ángel Catela
Few nations can boast of such a vast, ancient, and deeply Christian Christmas repertoire. From the popular carols that the people have sung for centuries in homes and parishes, to true liturgical jewels born in cathedrals and monasteries, the Spanish Christmas has always been doctrinal, poetic, and theologically fruitful.
That is why it is hard to justify opting for such a generic selection, when that heritage is at hand, where an Anglo-Saxon pop song—alien to the Christian mystery—appears on the same level as a worship carol or a sacred work. Perhaps asking for the Veni, Veni Emmanuel is too much for the CEE, but even among popular carols, there abound lyrics that clearly express the center of Christmas: the birth of Jesus Christ.