Riding the "Alleluia" Train

This Sunday, February 10, 2013, is Quinquagesima Sunday—that is, fifty days before Easter.  My friends, this means it’s our last chance for “alleluia” until Easter.  So get your ya-ya’s out! Buckle up because this train of thought (that’s “bound for glory, this train”) takes some unexpected turns!

The engine that’s driving this train—the last Sunday of Epiphany, the Quinquagesima:

Quinquagesima is a Latin word.  It translates as “fiftieth” and in medieval days, the full term was “quinquagesima dies” meaning fiftieth day.  Quinquagesima Sunday is the fiftieth day before Easter. Of course the fiftieth day after Easter is distinguished by use of the Greek version of “fiftieth” which we all know well: Pentecost.

Car 1—a “red herring” word

The “quin-” prefix of quinquagesima should not be confused with the “quinn-” prefix of the word Quinnipiac. For that is an r-dialect word from the Algonquin language meaning “original people.” “Quinn-” is a morpheme meaning “people.” The Quinnipiac (or better known as Quiripi or Renapi) lived in an area east of the Hudson River ranging from Long Island to southern parts of Vermont and New Hampshire. The word Algonquin itself means “our <united> people” (with the intentional meaning “allies”). The Algonquin language speakers covered nearly one-third of all North America and included dialects spoken by Eastern tribes (i.e. Abenaki, Mi’kmaq, Mohican), Plains tribes (i.e. Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Arapaho), Central tribes (Cree, Ojibwe, Shawnee), Southeastern tribes (Piscataway, Powhatan, Shinnecock).

Car 2—another “original people” tribe: speakers of Hebrew

Hebrew is the oldest non-extinct Canaanite-family language still spoken today—although modern Hebrew is as far removed from classical Biblical Hebrew as American English is from Anglo-Saxon. In fact, Biblical Hebrew, which exists only in writing from as long ago as the tenth century BCE, hasn’t been spoken as vernacular since roughly 70 CE. The term “Hebrew” derives from Ivri which itself comes from the word eyver meaning “from the other side” and refers to Abraham and his descendants (“the other side” meaning the other side of the Euphrates River). The Hebrew word Yehudim, the name applied to the people, means “people of God.” The first letters, you will notice, are “yeh”—the letters for the Hebrew name of God Yahweh (ignore the vowels, in Biblical Hebrew they are non-existent). You will notice also that “yah” is the final syllable in the word alleluia as well.

Car 3—Hallelujah, aleluyah, allelouia, alleluia

Halleluyah is a Hebrew word and translates as “praise God.” The –yah ending is shortened from Yhwh, or Jehovah. Hal’lu, of course, means “praise.” Early Christians took the word untranslated and incorporated it into their worship. In Eastern Christianity, alleluias are sung throughout the liturgical year and are included in all special services, including burials.  But Western Christianity omits alleluias in times of solemnity and penitential reverence—no alleluias during Lent or funerals.  With some rites, alleluias are omitted prior to Easter at the septuagesima (seventieth day).  Fortunately for us and this blog, we allow the praise of God right up to Ash Wednesday—alleluia! Curiously enough, it wasn’t all praise that was excluded.  For Laus tibi, Domine, “praise to you, Lord” can be used in lieu of alleluia. Alleluia also is a term used to describe musical chants, especially Gregorian chants, which are used to precede the Gospel. Alleluias are responsories where the alleluia is sung by a cantor and the choir responds with an additional melisma at the end of the word.  Incidentally, this particular melisma is called a “jubilus.” Literally, it’s a happy ending! Videmus Stellam is an example of this kind of alleluia chant.  The word alleluia first appears in the Bible in the thirteenth chapter of Tobit, and in the psalms it doesn’t appear until Psalm 104.  The word appears in the New Testament only in John’s Revelation. The last time alleluia appears in the Bible is John 19:6—“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder-peals, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.’”

Car 4—Michael Smith, Randall Thompson and John Weaver…Oh! And Leonard Cohen

Most of the time, we hear alleluias sung at Easter and Christmas.  But sometimes there are special compositions. Randall Thompson composed his most recognizable choral anthem Alleluia for the opening of the festival season at Tanglewood in 1940.  John Weaver composed Epiphany Alleluias, with a “star in the East” motif (an anthem we've sung here at Trinity Church). Michael Smith is a contemporary Christian composer who composed the very beautiful Agnus Dei based on John 19:6.  And, of course, anyone who’s a Shrek aficionado will recognize Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. (I personally am partial to the Boston-based band Adam Ezra Group who composed a song called “MissHallelujah” which as far as I can tell has nothing to do with praising God.  Catchy song, though.)

Car 5—Which brings us to the Rolling Stones and Rickie Lee Jones

In 1969, the Rolling Stones released the first official live album called, “Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out.” I’m pretty sure they were not thinking anything about alleluias or praising God when they named the album.  But the title automatically popped into my mind when I think “last chance to get your alleluias out” (that and Rickie Lee Jone’s “Last Chance Texaco,” from her self-titled first album in 1979, but that one was harder to work into the prose). Like the traveler in “Last Chance Texaco,” there is an implication of impending loss with the last Sunday of Epiphany. And like the Rolling Stones, those ageless boys perpetually dedicated to joy and fun, this last week of Epiphany is full of opportunity for praise and alleluias. The Stones actually adapted the album title from a song called “Get Yer Yas Yas Out” by the blues guitarist Blind Boy Fuller who was very popular during the Great Depression.

The Caboose—This Train is Bound for Glory

A contemporary of Blind Boy Fuller was one Woody Guthrie. Woody Guthrie’s songs have such a folk appeal to them, that his being the composer is often overlooked in favor of thinking them ancient folk tunes.  “This Train is Bound for Glory” is one such song. The song alludes to the days of hobo train jumpers, camp revivals, prohibition bootlegging and the hard days of the Depression when holding on to your faith in God was both all you had to sustain you and impossibly hard to maintain in the face of such fear and tribulation. While my train of thought may not be bound for glory, it certainly carries a lot of glory in its cars.  And if glory is demonstrated in praise of God, then all I have let to say is, “Alleluia,amen.”