Churches all over the island were packed on Christmas Eve, as once again the traditional singing of the Sibil.la or prophecies of Judgement Day and the second coming of Christ took place. An ecumenical service for Catholics and Evangelists was held in the Cathedral on Monday afternoon, and the evening service was presided by the Bishop, Mgr Teodor Ubeda. As is the tradition, the sermon was given by a child, Lluis Oliva, who was performing this for the second time. The Sibil.la was sung by Maria de la Pau Joan Castro. It is only in recent years that this chant, which can be traced back to the tenth century, has been performed by women. It is now increasingly more common to find women singing the long and difficult chant, with its Mozarabic cadences. The Sibil.la was originally sung in Visigothic by a monk, but was eventually translated into Latin, a Catalan version appearing in the 13th century.It was brought to the island by the Catalans after the Conquest in 1229.
Christmas tradition in all churches