Salvadoran Musician's Day

Every November 22, the date that commemorates the death of Saint Cecilia, named patron saint of musicians by Pope Gregory XIII in 1594, Salvadoran Musician's Day (Día del músico) and International Musician's Day are celebrated.

The story behind this anniversary is cruel and bloody, even though over time the commemoration of the day reminds us how important music is in our lives.

At the end of the second century after Christ, when the Catholic religion was not yet accepted in the Roman Empire, a devout young woman named Cecilia was forced by her parents to marry another young man from the same patrician society: Valerian. Shortly after, after being respectively instructed and baptized by Pope Urban, the new husband adopted the religion of his wife. Once a convert, together with his brother Tiburcio, they entrusted themselves to the prohibited work of burying Christian corpses. The fact had consequences: the brothers were arrested and forced to state that they only worshiped Jupiter. This never happened, and when they refused, they were tortured and sentenced to death.

Then it was Cecilia's turn: she was arrested and forced to renounce the religion of Christ. However, declaring that she preferred death rather than deny the true Faith, the young woman was moved to a hot oven so that her suffocation and gases would finish softening her. But this did not happen either. Despite her martyrdom, she Cecilia sang praises to God and was sentenced to death. On November 22, 230, the Roman mayor Almaquio ordered her head to be cut off.

The most likely fact for her to be related to music is that from a very young age, and according to the customs and traditions of the Roman patrician families, Cecilia must have been initiated and played some musical instrument, probably the lyre, the zither or some other type. harp of those used by the ladies of Roman society.