Hymns - Blog Posts

Hymns created for the gods - Hekate #1

I

Under the starry sky,

I find myself at the crossroads,

The moon greets me as a friend,

With its illuminating glow,

Under that white beam I find,

An ever-blazing torch held three-fold,

With a stern gaze, soul piercing touch,

Held tight as a bright light guides the way,

Obsidian pebbles mark the path,

To where I let go and create,

And as the air fills with lavender and myrrh,

As dandelions make their way from the underworld,

As I place garlic upon the threshold,

And walk through the gates,

To which the keyholder granted me access,

Knowing I am protected.

Hail Hekate!

Hail Hekate!

Hail Hekate!

1 Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,

whose trust, ever childlike, no cares could destroy:

Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,

your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.

2 Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,

whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe:

Be there at our labors, and give us, we pray,

your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.

3 Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,

your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace:

Be there at our homing, and give us, we pray,

your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve of the day.

4 Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,

whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm:

Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,

your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.

- Jan Struther (1931)

panicked in my religious studies exam and used the hymn "I will go lord" as a source of authority

thanks to my amazing Christian school,

I can't remember quotes but I know the entirety of Jerusalem, the lord's pray and most Christian hymns

“The Song of Mounykhia” - to Artemis.

Portuguese:

Canta, Ó Musa, de Ártemis do Arco Dourado A fugaz caçadora que do prado é dona Cujos olhos argutos de luar perscrutam o campo E identificam a presa ao qual seu alegre dardo encontra As passadas vorazes da Senhora das Feras Ecoam na batalha sanguinolenta O brilho dourado e Selene acima Ártemis sobre o campo impera e ilumina E agradecidos mortais entoam seu nome Queimando incenso, bolos e mel Sagrada Ártemis longiflecheira é honrada Pela clareza noturna que iluminou o céu

English:

Sing, O Muse, of Artemis of the Golden Bow The fleeting hunter who owns the meadow Whose sharp eyes of moonlight scan the field Identifying the prey that Her delightful dart finds

The voracious footsteps of the Mistress of Beasts Echo admist the bloody battle Her golden glow and Selene above Artemis over the field reigns and illuminates

And grateful mortals chant your name Burning incense, cakes and honey Sacred far-shooting Artemis is honored For the night clarity that lit up the sky

 The festival of Mounykhia is a celebration that occurs on the 16th lunar day of the hellenic month of Mounykhion. It’s about honouring Artemis as Potnia Theron, the Mistress of Beasts and (through the celebration of Arkteia) is also linked to a rite of passage of young girls. You can read about it more here.

Okay, so, I'm not very religious anymore due to a terrible childhood, but I miss singing hymns.

A group of people coming together to sing of hope and faith. There's something about that I think we all need more of nowadays, whether in a worshipping sense or not.

The funny thing about church Christmas songs is that the radio version are all wrong. The people singing think 'oh it's a religious song so it's slow' and that is just not true. There are ones that they sing just as slow as they should be- like o holy night- but Christmas is a time of REJOICING. Most of the hymns for it are pretty upbeat. They're not exactly really fast, but it still drives me crazy hearing 'haaaaaark the

herrrrald

An-gels siiii-iiing

When it's

Hark the HEErald an-GELS sii-ing

Like c'mon go tell it on the mountain has the same beat as the 12 days of Christmas

Work Songs and Sea Shanties

There’s been a lot of posts making the rounds discussing the ties between industrial union songs, folk songs, and sea shanties (since there’s been a rise in sea shanty popularity because of tik tok.) But I have yet to see one making the direct connection from African American work songs. Which is a little disheartening, as a black person who has always liked and enjoyed the genre.

Work songs have existed lonnnnnggg before shanties. But the distinct lyrical and instrumental form of what we immediately think of as “sea shanty” had antecedents in the working chants of international maritime traditions. Mainly those sung while loading vessels with cotton in ports of the Southern United States, during the 18th and 19th century. And you know what also rose in the 18th and 19th century? 

Answer: Chattel Slavery. 

“In the first few decades of the 19th century, White European-American culture, especially the Anglophone—the sailors’ “Cheer'ly Man” and some capstan songs notwithstanding—was not known for its work songs. By contrast, African workers, both in Africa and in the New World, were widely noted to sing while working. The fact that European observers found African work-singers so remarkable suggests that work songs were indeed rather foreign to their culture.” Source

Slave music has many distinct qualities. In early captivity, drums were used to provide rhythm, but they were banned in later years because of the fear that Africans would use them to communicate in a rebellion (they were, and also used as escape codes.)  Slaves then resorted to generating percussion, using other instruments or their own bodies. Another quality is the call-and-response format, where a leader sing’s a verse or verses and the others respond with a chorus. There’s also field hollers, shouts, moans, etc.

As slaves were forced into christianizing, their work songs evolved into Spirituals. Other measures to prevent slave rebellion included making sure that slaves from the same tribe were intentionally scattered, so that they could not share the same language. The forbiddance of practicing indigenous religions and speaking anything other than English meant that eventually, the large groups of slaves were once again able to communicate with each other. 

Spirituals were largely informed by the colonial hymns and folk songs of the time. They had the multitudinous purpose of 1.) keeping everyone working 2.) imparting Christian values 3.) describing the hardships of slavery, and 4.) hiding codes to escape.  Famous Spirituals include “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Wade in the Water” and they were a significant part of navigating the Underground Railroad. 

The switch to steam powered ships by the end of the 19th century gradually made sea shanties obsolete as work songs, so they are largely preserved as folk music. But because African Americans were still forced into the labour class, their work songs continued to evolve. Here are some chain gang songs for example.

Work songs > Spirituals > Gospel Music > Blues > Every Modern Black American Musical Genre That we Know Today

Not only that, but the root genre of work songs still exist across the globe, distinct to the agricultural and industrial work force of each culture. These videos were all posted within the last 5-10 years, from Tasmania, South Africa, The Philippines, and Tanzania. You can hear the connection between them being the tremendous labour they do.