Kolędy (Polish Christmas Carols) - "Dzisiaj w Betlejem"

While "Gdy się Chrystus Rodzi" expresses tender happiness, "Dzisiaj w Betlejem" ("Today in Bethlehem") is a carol of eager, triumphant gladness.

"Dzisiaj w Betlejem, dzisiaj w Betlejem

Wesoła nowina
Że Panna czysta, że Panna czysta
Porodziła Syna

(refren:)
Chrystus się rodzi
Nas oswobodzi
Anieli grają
Króle witają
Pasterze śpiewają
Bydlęta klękają
Cuda, cuda ogłaszają

Maryja Panna, Maryja Panna
Dzieciątko piastuje
I Józef święty i Józef święty
On ją pielęgnuje

(refren)

Chociaż w stajence, chociaż w stajence
Panna Syna rodzi
Przecież on wkrótce, przecież on wkrótce
ludzi oswobodzi

(refren)

I trzej królowie, i trzej królowie
od wschodu przybyli
I dary Panu, i dary Panu
kosztowne złożyli

(refren)

Pójdźmy też i my, pójdźmy też i my
przywitać Jezusa
Króla nad królami, Króla nad królami
uwielbić Jezusa

(refren)

Lyric Translate gives a satisfactorily literal translation to English:

Today in Bethlehem, today in Bethlehem
(there are) merry news
That the pure Maiden, that the pure Maiden
Has born a son

(Refrain:)
Christ is born
He's going to deliver us
The angels are playing (music)
The kings are bidding welcome
The shepherds are singing
The cattle is kneeling
Wonders, wonders do they announce

Mary the Maiden, Mary the Maiden
Is nursing the child
And Saint Joseph and Saint Joseph
He's taking care of Her

(Refrain)

Although in a little barn, although in a little barn
The Maiden is bearing Her son
After all He'll soon, after all He'll soon
deliver the people

(Refrain)

And the Three Kings, and the Three Kings
arrived from the east
and they gathered precious
gifts for the Lord, gifts for the Lord

(Refrain)

Let's go, too, let's go, too
and bid welcome to Jesus
King of Kings, King of Kings
to adore Jesus

(Refrain)

The International Book of Christmas Carols has the melody, harmony, accompaniment, and chord notation, although the lyric differs.

So - Turn off the lights!

Crank up the volume!

Link to the Mater Dolorosa Choir and play it on full-screen!

Christmas Decoration, Argyle, 2012 - Detail

This is a close-up of the Christmas angel in the "Decoration" post.

See on each wing the row of short under-feathers?

Julie

Christmas Decoration, Argyle, 2012

Coot Hill Family Historical Preservation Society Headquarters
has decorated for Christmas.

Pani Julia Mostkowska-Zdrojewska, who is with the angels,
has an angel by her portrait.

Marty and I have known this angel all our lives.
Look how feathery his feathers look.
How beautiful is the drapery of his gown,
as with right knee slightly bent
he hovers over the stable entrance.
"Gloria in Excelsis Deo!"

Here his hovering mechanism is revealed.
You took one of those wires for hanging bumpkies
and worked it into the plaster
and then into the wood
of the roof of the żłobek.

You don't know "żłobek" ?    Go to Google Translate.

Did you think I knew how to type all these Polish diacritical marks on my keyboard?

Thanks!  But alas, it is not so.

Wesołych Świąt!

Julie

Kolędy (Polish Christmas Carols) - "Gdy się Chrystus rodzi"

"Kolędy" are the hymns of of the European Christmas Season, which runs from December 4th through Epiphany, January 6th. This is intriguing and mysterious, since the "calends" are the first days of the months in the ancient Roman calendar.

"Gdy się Chrystus Rodzi,"  "When Christ was Born," is an enduring favorite due, I would say, to its tenderness and happiness, a quiet, reverent happiness.  Few things bring greater joy than this hymn performed by good musicians and choristers in a beautiful church at midnight on Christmas Eve.

This choir, "Harmonia," performs with a traditional up-tempo refrain.

A choir from Poznań renders the carol in constant, serene tempo.

Kolenda online is the source of lyrics below, and gives the musical score as well:

Gdy się Chrystus rodzi i na świat przychodzi,
ciemna noc w jasnościach promienistych brodzi.
Aniołowie się radują
pod niebiosa wyśpiewują:

Gloria, gloria, gloria
in excelsis Deo!

Mówią do pasterzy, którzy trzód swych strzegli,
aby do Betlejem czym prędzej pobiegli,
bo się narodził Zbawiciel
wszego świata Odkupiciel:

Gloria, gloria, gloria
in excelsis Deo!

O niebieskie duchy i posłowie nieba,
powiedzcież wyraźniej, co nam czynić trzeba,
bo my nic nie pojmujemy,
ledwo od strachu żyjemy:


Gloria, gloria, gloria
in excelsis Deo!

Nascitur cum Christus et mundo apparet,
Caeca nox fulgore radiante claret.
Angeli in caelis visi
Cantat hymnum paradisi:
Gloria, gloria , gloria,
In excelsis Deo.

Pavidos pastores angeli hortantur,
Bethehem quam primum ut proficiscantur:
Natus enim est Salvator,
Mundi machine Creator.

Gloria, gloria, gloria,
In excelsis Deo. 

Spiritus caelestes caelique legati,
Quidnam faciamus, nobis revelate.
Imperiti nil pollemus,
Metu capti vix vigemus.

Glioria, gloria, gloria,
In excelsis Deo.

 

 

 

English translation here.

Ehret and Evans's International Book of Christmas Carols - a wonderful volume - displays this carol on a two-page spread, giving the first two verses, in Polish and English.

Błogosławiony Bożego Narodzenia!

A Blessed Christmas Season!

to family and friends, far and near.  Julie

 

(This post edited and updated on 12/27/2020.)

A Couple of Marilla Photos

The snapshot below shows the essence of Gene and Clara's as a place and an institution, and, I would hope, explains the name of this blog.

They built the house in 1957.  We're seeing the kitchen not too long after that, and already so many of the vital elements are in place.  To the left, the hallway goes to the back door, which most visitors used, as well as indwellers.  So they checked out the garage as they came in, even if they were grandmas wearing fox stoles at the time.  This set the tone.  Of course, sometimes folk used the front door for fun. Then they would ring the doorbell, which had no microchip. A little hammer struck melodiously on long metal tubes.

On the walls we see the Polish Eagle on a card, and a recipe affixed to a cupboard door with a clothespin.  We see Suzette's dziura, her hidey-hole, with her leash hanging on the sidewall of it, a bit of her blanket, and a bit of herself at Clara's feet.  

Recipe books, Girl Scout candy in a tin, Southern Comfort,
Angostura bitters, stand mixer, electric frying pan.

That's a waffle iron on top of the refrigerator.
It's very benevolent-looking;
maybe it's the Buddha.

Clara is dressed like Julia Child - or perhaps Julia Child dressed like Clara - and it is important to realize that the stripes on her apron are in black, mauve, and greys, while the big band of pockets is a rich red.  Despite how that might sound, it looked great on her and against the oatmeal tweed of her below-the-knee sheath skirt.

Gene just got back from the office.

There's company in the house, over by the kitchen table, and somebody took that picture.  Blaise and Dorothy Militello may well have taken that picture. Wonderful neighbors: they first met in the winter, when the drifts were six feet high in front of the kitchen windows.  Clara looked up from the kitchen sink, and there were two feet on snowshoes standing on the snow directly in front of her. That was Dorothy, come over to say hello.

Below is the lead Militello saddle horse, Queenie, with Marty and Julie.  This is the driveway of their house, and across the road are buildings of the Pfitzinger farm.

Dzien Swietego Mikolaja

The feast day of Saint Nicholas is  December 6, because Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, died on this day in AD343.  During his lifetime he was beloved for his acts of charity, and to this day he is beloved  - in particular, for anonymous charity -  and imitated in it by Christians all over the world.

See Nicholas sneaking up to the window of the house to toss in pouches of coin, one for each of three distressed young women.  This 1425 painting by Gentile de Fabriano is in the Vatican.  The legend about this event is apparently typical of the kind of thing this man enjoyed doing.

The four weeks of Advent are sombre ones for children:  they mentally review their bad deeds of the past year, make resolutions, and review their catechism, all prior to Christmas Day. Saint Nicolas's feast day is a bit of a breather.  There are the coins in the shoes, and piernicki - gingerbread cookies.

Besides being the favorite of children, this Greek Bishop of ancient times, "Ἅγιος Νικόλαος," is patron saint of sailors.  That is why a ship is often depicted in the crook of his staff.

We've encountered the saint, in one of his many, many later manifestations, previously on Gene and Clara's.

Szczęśliwego Dzien Swietego Mikolaja!

Art Portfolio II

Last time we took a first look at a Clara Matynka high-school art portfolio, and thought with chagrin about mothers concealing their talents for mysterious reasons.

                                     

The smaller portfolio, found inside the big one, is quite plain.

  

It contains one each of a variety of work.  Maybe it was a selection from the semester's work, handed in for grading.

It starts off with studies in perspective drawing, basic shapes, shadow, and stippling, followed by still life in pencil . . .

. . .  self-portrait in pencil, detail work in pen-and-ink, and then that puppy.

This puppy began as a pencil drawing, but then it turned into a print of some kind.  "Linoleum-block print?"  Someone help me out here.  The black background looks like black, black ink, such as I sometimes saw other kids get to roll around with an ink-roller in art class. The surface is shiny and solid, in that it does not shed anything, and it is on thick, sturdy cardboard.

I never saw any of these things until the other day.  Did anyone else see them, or know about them?

Julie

Art Portfolio I

"CAM" is "Clara Adamina Matynka," our CMZ.

This is a portfolio she made for her Kensington High course "History of Art II."

She started with a couple of pieces of cardboard, some paint, a big fat brush, some grommets, and string.

She scalloped the edges on the liner paper.

It is a big, thick portfolio, but there is nothing in it except a much smaller portfolio containing a small selection of work.  Where is the rest of her work?

Next up: the contents of the plain portfolio.  But where is the rest of her work?

Also, why did her children only see these things once before her death?  Why did she hide all her artwork away in the attic?  Why did her children never once see her draw something?

Julie

John Napier Statue

This is the statue in Edinburgh of John Napier, discussed in the previous post as the discoverer of logarithms and inventor of slide rule 1.0.

Click to enlarge and see his handheld device and the expression on his face.

"Aegis Fortissima Virtus" prosequitur

The Kensington High School Yearbook of 1942 included a page featuring students who sold wartime "savings stamps," by means of which school-age kids could lend money at interest to the US Treasury for the war effort.

 "The entire student body has co-operated in making the campaign a success.  A real incentive in this work was the visit in January of the lovely Hollywood star, Miss Dorothy Lamour, who inspired the students to buy still more bonds and stamps.  Said Miss Lamour: 'If other schools respond with the same fine spirit of patriotism, I know that our boys are going to have all the material they need to win this war.'  Purchases rose rapidly as a result of the star's visit."

Dorothy Lamour was one of a number of Hollywood stars who supported the war effort in this way.  She also starred in the "Road" movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

A teacher was called up from Reserves to Actives; students donated to the Red Cross; "seventy-five Seniors willingly gave their services during the days of sugar rationing"; students volunteered to work on farms in the summer; students collected books to send to USO libraries.  Click to enlarge into Preview.  Check out the totals for stamp sales: $8,550; war bonds  $19,575.

The theme of concord among allied nationalities applied pressingly, one can imagine, to the internal management of a Buffalo high school, which had, as a glance at the class list shows, lots of ethnic German students and lots ethnic Polish students. National survival was going to require youth dropping the domestic rivalries of past years.

"Your teachers . . . have spent four years with you in an effort to strengthen your character and to prepare you, as strong Americans, to meet the totalitarian challenge to democracy."

As an elementary school student in the 1960s, I, too, heard about values from my teachers.  One stood in front of the class and finished off a conversation by saying loud and clear, "I wouldn't want to make a value judgment."

What an idiot.  It is impossible not to make a value judgment, as long as one is alive.

"Amid incessant and fiery debates, the members of the International Relations Club periodically endeavored to create a concordant ending of world combats.  Labor-Capital disputes; England's admirable conduct during air raids; American-Chinese policies; and Russian benevolence to the Allies were merely a few of the fascinating discussions which made this club singular."

Check out some demented faculty member's conception of "Cooperation."

Fortunately, this guy skipped Assembly that day, dressed and combed his hair the way he wanted, and produced art from his own particular head - art of the style used, in cooperation with other individuals, in the cooperative war effort.

"If you delight in solving brain-tickling mathematical problems or in measuring landmarks, the stars, moon, and other planets, we sincerely urge you to join the Slide Rule Club . . .

"At first, the members used improvised slide rules made from lined paper and later bought more accurate implements for themselves.  In due course, the problems increased in difficulty, but were met with proportionate ease as the training progressed . . . 

"Next the boys and girls were familiarized with the sextant, a remarkable instrument used in determining angles and ascertaining heights and distances.  Each member had the opportunity of measuring our renowned school chimney and other prominent landmarks in the distance . . .

"Many students have the false impression that this interesting organization is reserved exclusively for that small body of mathematical wizards which attends the school, but it is open to any student who is inclined to use mathematics either for enjoyment or as an occupation.'

John Napier, 8th Laird of Merchistoun (1550-1617) kept his shoulder off the wheel - thank God - and instead followed his own path to discover logarithms and invent the proto-slide rule. 

Trinity College, Cambridge, possesses a surviving set of "Napier's Bones."

This is the "geometry room" in the basement of Collegium Maius of Jagellonian University, in Kraków.

The Museum of Collegium Maius possesses a set "of Napier's bones" (London, late seventeenth century) a calculating instrument publicized in 1617 by Lord John Napier, the author of algorithms.  It was used until the late eighteenth century, and at the Cracow Academy it was exercised by Professor Jan Brozek."
(Podlecki and Waltos, Collegium Maius, p.46)

This and all the other treasures of Jagellonian University were in the hands of the Nazis in 1942.  The faculty had been summoned to the campus by the Gestapo, arrested, and murdered.

American kids were learning to understand slide rules by making their own with lined paper, so that they could progress to real, manufactured ones.

". . . for whatsoever from one place do fall . . . is with the tide unto an other brought . . ."

Julie