Going to Midnight Mass Late, Josep Traité, 1990, terracotta sculpture , 34.5 × 21.5 × 27 cm. Museum of Rural Life.
This sculpture is related to the traditional midnight mass held on Christmas Eve. A family is heading to mass as they are buffeted by the cold and wind.
In the Catalan-speaking lands, Christmas begins with this mass held at midnight which is fully of liturgical and popular resonances.
In some churches, the mass would begin with the Cant de la Sibil·la (Song of the Sibyl), one of the mediaeval enactments of the Christmas cycle with the deepest roots on the Iberian Peninsula, especially in Catalonia. In 2010, UNESCO declared the Cant de la Sibil·la of Mallorca to be Intangible Human Cultural Heritage.
