¡Que Llueva, Que Llueva!

Title: ¡Que Llueva, Que Llueva!

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Verbal folklore: Nursery rhyme
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country where Item is from: Colombia

Informant Data:

Martha Galvis was born in Bogotá, Colombia on December 14, 1963. She was born to two Colombian parents and grew up in Colombia. She lived in Colombia until 1993 when she began working on cruise ships and then moved to Maryland, USA, where she currently resides, in 1994.

Contextual Data:

Martha grew up in Colombia to Colombian parents, so she was completely immersed in the Colombian culture. Spanish was her first language. When she was a child, her parents sang her multiple nursery rhymes that were common in Colombia. One of these nursery rhymes is “¡Que Llueva, Que Llueva!”. Rhymes like this one are usually sung to young children as a way to help them start to learn and understand the Spanish language. It is one of the most well-known nursery rhymes in Colombia and many other Spanish speaking countries.

Item:
Que llueva, que llueva
La Virgen de la Cueva
Que llueva, que llueva
La Virgen de la Cueva
Los pajaritos cantan,
La luna se levanta.
¡Que sí, que no,
que caiga un chaparrón!
¡Que sí, que no,
le canta el labrador!

Translation

Let it rain, let it rain,
Virgin Mary of the Cave,                                                                                                                               Let it rain, let it rain                                                                                                                                   The little birds are singing,
The moon rises up.                                                                                                                                     Oh yes, oh no,
let there be a downpour!                                                                                                                             Oh yes, oh no,
sings the labrador!

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

Que llueva, que llueva
La Virgen de la Cueva
Que llueva, que llueva
La Virgen de la Cueva
Los pajaritos cantan,
La luna se levanta.
¡Que sí, que no,
que caiga un chaparrón!
¡Que sí, que no,
le canta el labrador!

Informant’s Comments:

Martha noted that this Spanish nursery rhyme really tries to make rainfall happy for children and to embrace it. It ties in with the larger Spanish theme of nature that is commonly seen in Spanish songs.

Collector’s Comments:

I found that the happy nature that this nursury rhyme attributes to rain is an effort to make children less afraid of rain. In many Latin American countries there are intense storms and hurricanes that can invoke fear, so rain is often associated with them. This rhyme makes rain less of something that should be feared and something that should be embraced and thankful for.

Collector’s Name: Chris Quintero

Tags/Keywords:

  • Nursery rhyme, Spanish folklore, Colombia, Colombian

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