Barb Ballenger: Nati Pequeña
A bit about Nati Pequeña
The song Nati Pequeña was born from a church bulletin about 16 or 17 years ago. Fr. Jim Callan, the administrator of Corpus Christi Parish which we were attending at the time, had just returned from visiting a sister parish in El Salvador. His encounter there with a little girl named Natividad – Christmas – struck him as deeply profound as Advent was just beginning. He related the story in the parish bulletin. When I read it, it promptly leaped off the page and into this song.
I recall hearing once that in Chiapas, when the indigenous people encounter an important truth, they express it in one of the three ways –as a song, a story or a dance. For me, Jim’s meeting with a little girl named Christmas demanded to be a song. I’m pleased to share it with you here.
Lyrics. From the CD A Little Bit of Change. Available for purchase from Beacon Street Performing Arts in Ministry.
