Objectives:

As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:

1. explain how La Misa Campesina reflects the concerns of the underclass in contemporary Nicaragua.
   
2. compare and contrast religious freedoms in the United States and Nicaragua.
   

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Materials:

1. Student Handout: Vos Sos El Dios De Los Pobres
   
2. Student Handout: Kyrie
   
3. Music from La Misa Campesina:
   "Vos Sos El Dios De Los Pobres"
   "Kyrie"
   
4. Student Handout: Questionnaire
   

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Notes to the Teachers:

1. La Misa Campesina is a song to God from the people of the Nicaraguan countryside. They sing to God of their life and hope. They resist the oppression all around them while at the same time building a new community out of the ruins: sun up to sun down. It is a song of love and liberty, a fight for just causes, for a normal everyday life.
   
2. La Misa Campesina proclaims the sacrifice and liberty from the point of view of the "pueblo" that gathers around the altar of god mustering all of their faith for a better tomorrow.
   
3. La Misa Campesina represents an era of frustrated hope. The Catholic hierarchy banned it from Nicaraguan churches, and a decade later it still is. Since the time it was conceived it has been performed in 6 different languages throughout the world.
   

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Activities:

1. Write the following excerpt from the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution on the chalkboard.
   
   a. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."
   b. Ask students to discuss their interpretation of the amendment. How much religious freedom to we have as Americans?
   
   
2. Play the first song of La Misa Campesina: "Vos Sos El Dios De Los Pobres". Ask students to listen carefully and to interpret its meaning.
   
   a. Distribute the student handout entitled Vos Sos El Dios De Los Pobres and direct students to listen to the song again.
   b. Ask students to underline cognates and words they already understand.
   c. Divide the class into small groups to translate the song.
   
   
3. Distribute the student handout entitled Questionnaire.
   
   a. Direct students to answer Section A of the questionnaire.
   b. Ask students to share their answers with the class and to discuss the meaning of the song.
   
   
4. Play the second song of La Misa Campesina: "Kyrie". Ask students to listen carefully and to interpret its meaning.
   
   a. Distribute the student handout entitled Kyrie and direct students to listen to the song again.
   b. Ask students to underline cognates and words they already understand.
   c. Divide the class into small groups to translate the song.
   
   
5. Direct students to answer Section B of the Questionnaire handout.
   
   a. Ask students to share their answers with the class and to discuss the meaning of the song.
   
   
6. After the students have discussed the "Kyrie", direct them to answer Section C of the Questionnaire handout.
   
   a. Ask students to explain the evident purpose of La Misa Campesina based on these two selections.
   b. Ask students to hypothesize why this folk mass was banned by the Catholic Church? What type of changes do the songs call for?
   c. Ask students to explain how the banning of the mass by the Catholic Church reflects on the issue of religious freedom?
   
   
7. Extension Activity
   
   a. La Misa Campesina has been translated into many languages around the world. Ask students to hypothesize why the underclass in many countries might embrace the ideas reflected in La Misa Campesina.
   

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