Da spasimo stare običaje

iz knjige Stihom kroz život (2010.)

Let Us Save the Old Customs

from the book Through Life in Verse (2010)

Nekada se kosom zrelo žito želo,sa srpom kupilo, u snoplje vezalo,u krstine slagalo i kući vozilo,potom vršalicom žito ovršilo.

Once, with scythes, they used to mow the ripened wheat,gather it with sickles, bind the sheaves up neat,stack them into shocks and cart them down the lane,and the thresher then would thresh out all the grain.

Ujesen bi ljudi kukuruze brali,uz vino i pjesmu doma komušali.Skupila se moba, veseli su bili,a dečki bi cure doma otpratili.

In the autumn they would pick the maize and bringall the cobs back home to husk, with wine, and sing.A moba would gather, merry, every one,and the lads would walk the girls home when all was done.

Kada zima dođe, bilo je veselo,skupljale se cure s večeri na prelo.Bećari bi došli curama na sijelo,veselo je zimi bilo svako selo.

When the winter came, the fun was at its height:girls would gather at the prelo every night,bećars joined the girls' sijelo, to their delight,every village, winter-long, a merry sight.

S tehnikom su došla moderna vremena.Kombajn kosi, vrši i u silos sprema,kukuruz ovrši komušanja nema,televizor sada zamjenjuje sijela.

With machinery the modern times came in:the combine mows and threshes, fills the silo's store,shells the maize, and there's no husking any more,and the television takes the place of sijela.

Sjećamo se često starih običaja,pa njima u spomen podižemo slavu,tradiciju časnu vjekovima znanu,da spasimo prošlost vječnom zaboravu.

Often we remember all the customs of old,and in their memory we raise their glory high,an honoured tradition, known for centuries,so the past won't be forgotten, left to die.

Valpovo, 20.07.2008.

Valpovo, July 20, 2008

Translator's note. A moba was a communal work party, where neighbours helped each other with the harvest or the maize husking; the prelo was a winter evening gathering where girls spun and the young men came calling.