A New Year Hymn

One of the fun things about being in a different country is noticing and learning about similarities and differences, even within familiar settings. Attending Church meetings is a very familiar setting, and so much is the same—including all the hymns. Or at least, most of the hymns.

Today we sang a hymn I'd never heard before. The title was Otro año ha pasado—"Another year has passed." It's clearly a "New Year" hymn really only appropriate for the beginning of the year. I researched it a bit and found it's not in the current English hymn book, but was in the Deseret Sunday School Songbook back in the 1890s. I don't think it ever has been in the normal English hymnbook. No idea how it got translated and put into the Spanish hymn book. But we all enjoyed singing it!



The author, Mary B. C. Slade, was the wife of a minister in Massachussets and wrote about a hundred hymns. "One More Year Has Gone" was first published sometime around 1874. It appeared in the LDS Church publication Juvenile Instructor in 1892, and then was published for a number of years in the Deseret Sunday School Song Book. I don't have any way of knowing how long it's been in previous versions of the Spanish hymnal. There are actually 16 hymns in the Spanish book that don't exist in English, so I'm sure each has a story.

It's fun to look at this hymn and consider its message. These are the original lyrics, as far as I can tell, which were only slightly modified for the LDS publications:

1. One more year has gone! Joyful marching on;
We this height have won, resting here
Back, a look we cast, O’er the gloomy past,
Then we’ll view at last The coming year. 

CHORUS
Teachers, scholars, rally round our banner,
See its motto Shining fair and clear:
“Onward, upward;” Children sing hosanna,
God will lead us through another year. 

2. Gladly here we come, Oh sweet Sabbath home,
None from thee would roam, Blessed place!
Here our feet have turn’d; Here our hearts have burn’d;
Here our souls have learn’d The works of grace. 

3. Forward marching, we Our bright way would see,
Upward Lord, to Thee, Climbing still
Be our Guide, we pray; Ev’ry Sabbath day,
Teach us, Lord, the way, And Thy dear will. 

4. Father, hear our call, Let Thy blessings fall,
O’er the children all, Drawing near.
May sweet showers of love Thy dear blessings prove,
While we onward move, Another year.

These are the current Spanish lyrics, along with a fairly literal translation.

It's fun to compare the Spanish, or translated Spanish, with the original English. The musicians or poets who translate musical lyrics and try to keep close to the original message, while finding rhymes and fitting meters, do amazing work as far as I'm concerned!  But certainly this hymn has a wonderful message for the start of a new year.