– (Kiko Garcia)
question Robson Vilanova Island, Sao Sepe, RS
There are some hypotheses about the name of the mass celebrated on Christmas Eve, but no one knows for sure.
The most accepted, according to the Catholic faith, says that a rooster would have crowed at midnight on the day of Jesus’ birth, announcing the arrival of the Messiah – the only time that a rooster would have crowed at such a strange time.
Another legend says that a rooster crowed three times when the apostle Peter denied knowing Jesus. Therefore, Spanish farmers used to kill a rooster at midnight on the 25th.
There are still two other hypotheses. One says that the animal symbolizes the dawn, celebrated by pagans as a way of thanking the Sun God – a tradition that was eventually absorbed into Christian worship. The other claims that the Misa do Galo takes its name because it ends so late that the roosters are already crowing at dawn by the end of the celebration.
SOURCES Websites Jesus Good Shepherd, Anchieta College It is library