to give light

"Dar a luz," in Spanish, means "to give birth." Literally, the word "luz" means "light" in English.

I love this because it makes me think that mothers everywhere are giving birth to little lights. :)

It also brings me back to the Bible, where Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." I wonder if the origin of the phrase "dar a luz" came from the idea of mothers giving birth to light; Jesus as light in each child entering the world. I've found this in other Spanish words, too. For example, the word "adios" means "goodbye," but literally, "to God.")

I write this tonight because my sister had another baby today! I have Amira, my niece, who is 21 months old, and I now have Emeka, who is about 7 hours old. Emeka is pronounced "uh-meh-kuh" and is Nigerian for "great deeds."

Ironically, the other Bible verse my mind had gravitated towards, when thinking about the Spanish translation for "dar a luz," was this:
Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Interesting.

One more thing-
Today, I taught my 1st graders about Christmas caroling in the United States and we learned the song "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." Then I took all 25 of them to the other 1st grade classroom to knock on the door and sing the song for the children in that class. I think it was the first time any of them had ever been Christmas caroling and it made me really happy. :)