Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 31.djvu/436

426 lished in the "Romancero Nuevomejicano." While the décimas in hexasyllabic verse are for the most part, therefore, Christmas carols also, the metrical classification seemed preferable. The décima is such a well-defined metrical composition in Spanish, and seems to be so popular in Porto Rico in modern times, that it seemed best to put in the two general divisions already studied all the metrical compositions, of whatever character, composed in the form of décimas.

The generalization of the term aguinaldo in Porto Rico may very easily be explained. The primary meaning of the word in Spanish is "Christmas present or gift." It is customary in most Spanish countries for people (especially children) to go from house to house on Christmas Eve, asking for sweets or gifts of any kind, and singing Christmas carols. As we see in many of the carols now published from Porto Rico, the requests for sweets and other gifts are frequently incorporated in the carols which they sing. Here we see, then, the transition of the meaning "present" or "gift" to the song which asks it. In most Spanish countries the word aguinaldo means also, as in Porto Rico, a Christmas carol or song. Whether the generalization of the term, as in Porto Rico, has taken place also in other Spanish countries, I do not know. In New Mexico it is used only with the usual Spanish meanings already mentioned. In Porto Rico the word has taken such a general meaning, that many of the metrical compositions in question are entitled in the manuscripts aguinaldo de amor, aguinaldo de pasión, aguinaldo de navidad, aguinaldo jíbaro (any Porto-Rican popular song in shorter metres), aguinaldo de año nuevo, and all these additional ear-marks are evidently becoming necessary.

A large part of all this material having been classified with the décimas, where it properly belongs, there remain yet a large number of metrical compositions in shorter metres and in various strophic forms, but not décimas, which have to do for the most part with subjects taken from biblical tradition, especially the Nativity. All these are also called aguinaldos, with various subtitles, such as coplas, versos, bombas (usually a copla in Porto Rico), cánticos, etc. These are very properly called aguinaldos. Most of them are Christmas carols, and contain the requests for sweets, as already indicated. All the Christmas carols or songs that are not in the form of décimas, therefore, are included in the present division, under the title aguinaldos. As in the case of the décimas of divisions I and II, there are compositions which contain long series of strophes, while many contain but a single strophe. In the case of the aguinaldos, the copla is common as a strophic form, and the most common metre is the hexasyllabic. It is noteworthy that the Christmas carols, both the décimas of division II and the songs of division III, are for the most part in hexasyllabic verse. The popular copla is usually in octosyllabic metre, and it is