The Rivera Family at Shenandoah Valley Academy - Christmastime 2015

Are You The One?

Guy Penrod left the Gaither Vocal Band after 14 years of global success and fame.  Why?  He knew he needed to be closer to home (Tennessee farm) with his wife, seven boys, and little daughter. One of our favorite singers sings of the responsibilities of being a dad and parent.

Great Christmas Songs

This season has been full of music so far.  We've already played about 5 times with more to come, both public and private performances.  Meanwhile, I've managed to listen to some great Christmas music.  Enjoy!

The Isaacs "Labor of Love"

Ricky Skaggs Family "Little Drummer Boy"

The Durochers "Christmas Lullaby"

Ricky Skaggs Family "Christmas Time's a Comin'"

Somos Jíbaros

A "Jíbaro" (pronounced with an "h" sound instead of the "j" and accented on the first syllable) is a Puerto Rican who carries the same spirit as those who originally settled the mountains in the interior of the island. 

The term offers some very interesting connections that I would like to further investigate between the Sephardic Jews, Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands (where many Sephards lived and emigrated through), Puerto Rico, and the term "Jíbaro".

According to Wikipedia:

In Puerto Rico, the Jíbaro culture has its origins primarily in Canarian culture, with minor influences from the native Taíno culture. The term jíbaro usually refers to "La Gente de la Montaña" (the people of the interior mountainous regions of Puerto Rico) and emerged in the 16th century with the blending of the Pre-Columbian Taíno and Spanish European cultures in the central mountains of the island. 

Royal Spanish Academy of Language or "Real Academia Española" says that the word originates from mountain people of central castile. Many of these early Spanish settlers preferred to settle in mountainous terrain that they were accustomed to back on the Spanish mainland and later from the Canary Islands. Some elements of the jíbaro culture are still visible today. 

Since at least the 1920s the term "jíbaro" has a more positive connotation in Puerto Rican culture, proudly associated with a cultural ideology as tough pioneers of Puerto Rico.

However, the term occasionally also has a negative connotation. A jíbaro can mean someone who is considered ignorant or impressionable due to a lack of a more European style of education as are many country or "hill billy" people of many other cultures. Despite this negative connotation, the image of the jíbaro represents an ideology of a traditional Puerto Rican: hard-working, simple, independent, and prudently wise.

Colloquially, the jíbaro imagery serves as a representation of the roots of the modern day Puerto Rican people and symbolizes the strength of such traditional values as living simply and properly caring for homeland and family.

The Rivera Family Name

In beginning this blog project about us, the Rivera Family, I came across a lot of material on the history of the Rivera surname. I found the coat of arms above and several descriptions of its meaning and origin, some of which I was not aware of.  

For example, I knew before that the name Rivera came from Spain, specifically Castile (Castilla),  although once in Italy a man told me that Rivera was an Italian name.  That was pretty interesting.  The term "rivera" or "ribera" means riverbank, which I knew.  However, I learned that there are some other related meanings of the word: shore, bank, strand, and riverside.  It also appears to have some French origin as well.  (C'est pas mal...)

The thing that really intrigues me though is what I found out about the name regarding its Sephardic roots. Sephards are the Jews that lived in Spain and Portugal before the discovery of the New World.  Many converted to Catholicism, by force or convenience, during the Spanish Inquisition and prior to the Expulsion by the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabel.  

The stalwarts who would not give up their Hebrew spiritual or religious heritage found refuge for some time in Portugal and were able to make it to the New World.  Spain would not allow any one but Old Christians to go to the New World.  The Rivera name finds itself among those lists of names.  

Long ago, I read a book called, The Cross and the Pear Tree, it was written by a man who traced his Sephardic roots from Israel to Eastern Europe, Portugal and to Latin America.  His name, Pereira, or Perrera in Spanish, translated to pear tree.  It turns out that that name in Hebrew is Peres or the well-known Spanish surname, Perez, which comes from the other side of my family.  The Rivera family name comes to us from Puerto Rico.  Our family came from Puerto Rico to the U.S. in the 1940s.

So, I come to the conclusion that, based on our Spanish family names, that we may actually originate from Sephardic Jewish ancestry.  To have Jewish blood would be an honor.  But it is still kind of an unknown.  Perhaps the future will reveal more.  In the meantime, as God's chosen people were selected to bring salvation to the world, so we, as spiritual Israel, will do in our family ministry of music.

The Beginning...

I guess it was back in late 2011, exactly 4 years ago, that we started making music together as a family.  At the time, I had been laid off of my full-time teaching position in Massachusetts.  That was a big blow in many ways.

The Lord graciously opened several doors for me, so that I could continue working at a couple of local colleges and still spend most of my time at home with my family.  There was an amazing family music ministry right in our little town called the MacDonald Family Singers.  They were our inspiration, and they are so talented, too.  And they were always so friendly and encouraging to us.  I love the MacDonald Family!

During this time, we had the luxury of spending more than a hurried few minutes in family worship.  Sometimes worship would go for an hour!  And instead of watching me play the guitar, my little ones, who were already doing piano, began to really try to play some of the instruments, and we started our family band.  Good old North Orange, Massachusetts...

And soon, we had our first gig!  We played "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" for our neighbors at the North Orange Church.  I want to go back there and play for them again.  How 4 years have flown by.  This was us back then...

Julia (10) - Violin/Fiddle
Diego (7) - Banjo
Nicholas (6) - Mandolin
Daddy (?) - Guitar

Family Project

Welcome to the Rivera Family Music Blog!

We are a Christian family that likes to make music, and little by little we're getting better.  We've been ministering through music for a few years now, and we finally have a place here to share with those who are interested.

Hope to share some of our music and experiences with you soon!