Caramelles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Caramelles are popular songs typical of Catalonia and Andorra, sung at Easter to celebrate the good new of the resurrection of Jesus, but also have a profane character. The singers (called caramellaires) are groups of singers who go out to sing in houses and farmhouses on Holy Saturday evening or Easter and Easter Monday mornings. They can be accompanied by various instruments. In the past, they collected eggs or money that people gave them with which they did a collective meal, basically egg-based, the same day, in the afternoon, or a few days later. The custom has many variants: in some places the singers danced between songs.[1][2]
No documentation has been found to prove when and where this custom begins, but it is known that in the 16th century, it was already celebrated in the rural world, and the oldest are the religious joys dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.[3] Throughout the nineteenth century, choral societies adopted this tradition, introduced it to cities, and revitalized it with new elements and new musical pieces. For example, in the 1852 Clave Choirs statutes, caramelles was one of the activities of the institution.[1] The earliest information regarding singing caramelles in Barcelona is from 1776, but it seems that the first gangs were not organized until the mid-nineteenth century and did not become widespread until 1880.
