Monday, May 08, 2006

As promised...

If you listened to that wonderful first link in the National Geographic site of music from all over the world, here are , first the Finnish words, followed by a translation, thanks to my friend from Finland.

Suvetar hyvä emäntä
nouse harja katsomahan
viitimä emännän vilja
kun ei tuskihin tulisi

Manutar maan emäntä
nostele oras okinen
kannon karvanen ylennä
kun ei tuskihin tulisi

Syöttele metisin syömin
juottele metisin juomin
mesiheinin herkuttele
vihannalla mättähällä

siull on helkiät hopiat
siull on kullat kuulusammat

nouse jo neitonen
mustana mullasta

Akka mantereen alanen
vanhin luonnon tyttäristä
pane turve tunkomahan
maa väkevä vääntämähän

Akka mantereen alanen
vanhin luonnon tyttäristä
tuhansin neniä nosta
varsin vaivani näöstä


Suvetar, fine matron
Arise to see the seeds
Raise the matron's corn
So that we may be spared pain

Manutar, matron of the Earth
Lift up the shoots from the ground
New shoots from the stumps
So that we may be spared pain

Feed us with honey-hearts
Give us honey-drink
Delicious honey-grass
On a blossoming knoll

You have shining silver
You have glistening gold

Rise up, O maiden
Black from the soil

Underground crone
Most ancient of Nature's daughters
Make the peat shoot forth
And the ground turn over

Underground crone
Most ancient of Nature's daughters
Lift up a thousand seedlings
To reward my efforts.

4 comments:

novice.knitter said...

So Beautiful! I will have to show America. She is always making up her own languages... this sounds a lot like her favorite, but it is real! Maybe she is preparing for a life in translating Finnish!

tom said...

Here we do not celebrate the soumi rite of spring - but we do celebrate a mid-winter festival
http://pasty.com/heikki/

should take you to a link about the festival. Finns are the largest ethnic group in the copper country.

somewhere i have a fun poem about pannakakkus at the soumi resturant in houghton.

enjoyed the poem -

(we might have snow on friday! no wonder we don't celebrate the coming of spring - we never know when it is or was)

tom

Endment said...

Wonderful portrayal of spring. One could really get tempted to celebrate spring feeding on honey! Tom said it --- we never really know when spring has arrived.

Pris said...

Yes, isn't this a wonderful celebration song?

And Tom, thanks for that site. I just looked at it and never knew Finns formed such a large group in Michigan. The Finnish friend who sent this is actually from Finland.

I went to grad school in the midwest and lived in New England for 8 years, so remember snow in May at times. Yes, Spring doesn't arrive the way it does in more southernly climes.