The Song of the Sybil - where did it come from?

The Cant de la Sibil·la, the Song of the Sybil, has arguably never been as popular as it is nowadays. Declared a Unesco item of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010, even those who might previously have been unaware of this solemn Christmas Eve chant could no longer have been. Majorca had a UN accolade, even if it was for something which contains the grim prophecy of the Sybil.

In former times, though, the song had a popularity that owed nothing to Unesco or to its being broadcast live from the Cathedral into people's living rooms. By the start of the sixteenth century, Majorca had its own version - one in Mallorquí. Well over 300 years later, in 1871, the Archduke Louis Salvador included a transcript in his encyclopaedic Die Balearen; he was struck by how widespread and popular it was.

Equally arguably, therefore, the Sybil was once more popular than today. There again, this old popularity may have had something to do with people paying far greater attention to the warnings of the Sybil than they do now. "The judgement day, Will appear who have served, Jesus Christ universal King, Man and truly eternal God, He will be lowered from the Heavens as Judge, And to each one will give justice. To the wicked he will say harshly, 'Go, you damned ones to hell, Go to the eternal fire, With your infernal prince'. To the good he will say 'Come my children, Possess the kingdom that is prepared for you, Since the creation of the world'."

This comes from the version that it is sung in Palma Cathedral. Back in the early sixteenth century, the warnings of hell were darker. They proved to be too dark even for the Catholic authorities, who banned the Sybil from churches in 1568, fearing disorder and spiritual confusion. In Majorca, there was a form of popular rebellion against the command of the Council of Trent. By 1575, the Bishop of Majorca was saying that it could continue, so long as it was toned down. Over a hundred years later, 1692, Bishop Pere d'Aragó i de Cardona approved a version on the condition that it was only to be performed at Christmas.

But where does this song come from? The origins are said to lie with a Greek acrostic poem of the fourth century - the Judicii Signum and its references to the Last Judgment. Acrostic refers to the giving of a prophesy or message, specifically to the prophecies of the Erythraean Sibyl. The "sibylla", this prophetess of Ancient Greece, was capable of all sorts of predictions: the Trojan War, for instance. The fourth-century poem thus relied on a prophecy that had been made several centuries earlier in the time Before Christ.

In the mediaeval Catalan world, liturgical theatre (religious dramatisation) was represented by a procession of prophets. This ended with the Sibil·la. These dramas were at their most popular at Christmas and Easter, and the first documented evidence of the Sibil·la in Catalan noble circles comes from the tenth century in Ripoll, Gerona. The Sibil·la was to therefore arrive in Majorca after the conquest of 1229.

In order to attain real popularity, among the ordinary folk, there needed to be adaptations. And so there were. Quodvultdeus, the Bishop of Carthage, who had been exiled to Naples, drafted a fifth century version which was to enter the Christmas liturgy. This was, if you like, the standard work. Standard, that is, until other sources took an interest and created versions in language that the ordinary folk could understand. Which brings us, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, to the small monastery at the summit of the Puig de Maria in Pollensa.

In 1362, the Bishop of Majorca formally authorised the establishment of a female monastic house in Pollensa. The nuns at the monastery were to come under the Augustinian Order from 1388, and it was these nuns at this monastery - so it is believed - who came up with the first Majorcan version of the Sibil·la. When exactly isn't known, but the Breviarium Majoricensis of 1506 (summary of the Majorca diocese) noted the Mallorquí version, or a Mallorquí version, as there was also that of Abd-Al·lah at-Tarjuman al-Mayurqî.

This was Anselm Turmeda, a Franciscan monk, who went to Tunis in 1387 and never returned. His most famous work - Llibre dels bons amonestaments - was written eleven years after he went to Tunis. Later banned by the Inquisition, it included the Sibil·la, which is why Turmeda was attributed with having been responsible for the Majorcan version.

Whatever the true roots in terms of popular language, there was no version that contained a reference to Christmas as such until the Catalan composer Francesc Pujol added one in 1918. Instead, the association in the text of the chant is now: "O humble Virgin, you who have given birth, To the child Jesus this night, Intercede with pity that your Son, Will liberate us from eternal fire."

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