LL-L "Traditions" 2007.05.30 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  30 May 2007 - Volume 01

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From: Felix Hülsey <felix.huelsey at gmx.de>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions"

Hi all,

Kevin wrote:
>
> I don't know about the Lowlands specifically, but in the
> English-speaking world there is the nursery rhyme that children chant to
> ladybirds/ladybugs (usually only the first line, or perhaps the first
> two lines):
>
> Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home,
> Your house in on fire and your children are gone,
> All except one and that's little Ann,
> For she crept under the frying pan.

That reminds me of the German nursery rhyme about the Maikäfer
(according to Wikipedia, the English word is "cockchafer (or may bug, as
it is colloquially called, or sometimes billy witch or spang beetle,
particularly in East Anglia)")

Maikäfer, flieg
Dein Vater ist im Krieg
Dein' Mutter ist in Pommerland
Pommerland ist abgebrannt
Maikäfer flieg

My translation:

Cockchafer, fly
your father has gone to war
your mother is in Pomerania
Pomerania was burned down
Cockchafer, fly

It is not about the same insect, ladybird is Marienkäfer in German, but
maybe there is a connection?

According to this site
http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/lyrikkalender/616545/
the rhyme came in use during the 30-year-war (1618-1648) which also
destroyed Pomerania and killed two thirds of its population.

Kind regards from Cologne
Felix

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Traditions

Hi, Felix! Thanks. You tied this song into this thread much more smoothly
that I would have done.

The connection between this song and the Thirty-Year War is what I learned
about many years ago. That war (which began as a religious war but then
escalated, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Year_War) was one of the most
horrendous, albeit not in actual numbers, in terms of civilian suffering,
much of it in terms of starvation and disease.  Apparently, it truly
traumatized people to a great extent, so much so that much folklore and many
folksongs can be traced back to it.

Another German song of those times is the following.

 *Es geht ein dunkle Wolk herein*

Es geht ein dunkle Wolk herein;
mich deucht, es wird ein Regen sein,
ein Regen aus den Wolken
wohl in das grüne Gras.

Und kommst du, liebe Sonn, nit bald,
so weset alls im grünen Wald,
und all die müden Blumen,
die haben müden Tod.

Es geht ein dunkle Wolk herein,
es soll und muß geschieden sein;
ade, Feinslieb, dein Scheiden
macht mir das Herze schwer.

*A Gloomy Cloud Is Drawing Near
*
A gloomy cloud is drawing near.
Me thinks it will be raining here
From all those gloomy rain clouds
Into the green, green grass.

And dost thou, sun, not come this day
All things in green woods must decay,
And all the weary flowers
Must suffer weary death.

A gloomy cloud is drawing near.
This is the time of parting, dear.
Farewell, sweet love, thy leaving,
Heavy it makes my heart.

(c)2007, Translation: R. F. Hahn

Music:
MIDI: tinyurl.com/2lesu3
MP3: tinyurl.com/2tfpyq
MP3: tinyurl.com/3yjtom
Sheet music (PDF): tinyurl.com/2pcqo9*

*Information (German): de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkle_Wolken

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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