A Bear-Awakening Song from Lozvafő Village

This is the second dawn song from the Third Section of Munkácsi's bear ceremony collection — a morning-waking song recorded at Lozvafő village on the Lozva River. Where the first dawn song (from the upper Sosva) is cosmic and liturgical, this Lozvafő song is intimate and domestic. The singers describe the house that has been swept clean for the bear, the wife who stands before it with hands fragrant from birch-tinder smoke, the son who dances with his seven handiworks. They remind the bear of the forest nut-cracker bird calling at dawn, the seven stone-pine groves it once roamed.

The song's central passage is one of the most extraordinary in all Uralic sacred literature: a triple parallel describing the bear's former sleeping consciousness. In life, the bear slept with one ear dreaming and the other listening for the faintest sound — two twigs touching, two grass-blades meeting. One eye slept while the other counted the stars through the smoke-hole. One nostril slept while the other sniffed all seven winds. The bear was never fully asleep; half its consciousness always attended the cosmos. Now, in the deeper death-sleep of the ceremony house, even this half-waking has ceased — and the singers plead with it to rise.

Recorded by Bernát Munkácsi among the Mansi (Vogul) people of Lozvafő village on the Lozva River in Western Siberia, and published in his Vogul Népköltési Gyűjtemény, Volume III: Medveénekek (Bear Songs), Budapest, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893. This is the second song of the Third Section: Dawn Bear-Awakening Songs (Reghajnali medveköltő énekek). This text has never previously appeared in English.

Wild beast, wake! Beast, arise!
Your lady's fine, fine son,
your lord's fine, fine son
is waking you, beast.
In the corner of your house blackened with forest-wood smoke,
in the corner of your house dark with pitch-pine soot —
beast, wake! Wild beast, arise!
See the shine of your renowned silver,
see the shine of your famous silver!
What your lady's fine, fine son
performs — watch that handiwork!
What your lord's fine, fine son
performs — delight in that footwork!

This neck-severing root-deep sleep —
too long already have you slept.
See now — your lady's fine, fine son's
topknotted wife, your little mistress —
with hands fragrant from evening birch-tinder smoke
long has she stood before you,
with hands fragrant from morning birch-tinder smoke
long has she stood before you.
Your lady's fine, fine son —
with the wing of his thin-cloth garment
the dust of the dusty house floor
long since he has swept;
his topknotted wife, your little mistress,
with the corner of her thick-fringed kerchief
the dust of the dusty house floor
long since she has swept.
Beast, arise! Wild beast, wake!

Wild beast, wake! Beast, arise!
At the hour of dawn's rising,
in the seven spreading-topped stone-pine groves —
the forest nut-cracker hen, your elder sister —
her throat's voice, her tongue's voice
long already has sounded.
Her span-long pine-cone
long already she has flung.
In the time of your former life,
your seven spreading-topped stone-pine groves —
beast, with your many, many bounds
you roamed them all.
At the hour of dawn's rising,
your berry-growing berry groves —
you traversed them all.
But now — this neck-severing root-deep sleep —
so long, so long you sleep.

In the time of your former life,
when you slept your neck-severing root-deep sleep —
one ear-stump on one side
slept the root-deep sleep,
but the other ear-stump
listened upward.
When Lofty-Dear One, your father,
let two twigs touch —
you listened upward.
When Lofty-White One, your father,
let two grass-blades touch —
you listened upward.

In the time of your former life,
when you slept your neck-severing root-deep sleep —
one star on one side
slept the root-deep sleep,
but the other star
looked upward to Lofty Sky, your father.
Through the roof-opening you counted
every one of Kworés your father's seven stars;
you surveyed
every one of his many bright stars.

One nostril on one side
slept the root-deep sleep,
but the other nostril
from all seven directions
gathered scent unceasingly.

But now — this neck-severing root-deep sleep —
so deep, so utterly you sleep!
Wild beast, arise! Beast, wake!
The magic iron has brought you down.
Now — your lady's fine, fine son's
seven handiworks — watch them well!
His fine leg-twisting dance —
delight in it!
The dish of frozen fat, of chilled fat
set before you by your lady's fine, fine son —
delight in it!
After you have so delighted —
"o-yo-yo-u-u-u!" shall be the cry.

Colophon

Translated from Mansi (Vogul) source text via Munkácsi's Hungarian intermediary by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026.

Source: Munkácsi Bernát, Vogul Népköltési Gyűjtemény, Volume III: Medveénekek (Bear Songs), Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893, pp. 194–199. Section III, Song II: "Lozvafő-falvi reggeli ének" (Lozvafő village morning song). The Mansi source text and Hungarian translation appear together in the original edition. Archive.org identifier: f1vogulnpklt03munkuoft.

Translation method: Independent verse translation from the Mansi source text, with Munkácsi's 1893 Hungarian translation serving as the primary interpretive bridge. The English verse was composed independently. No prior English translation of this song exists; no English reference was consulted.

Terminology: The bear is addressed as uj ("beast") and sus ("wild beast") — the ceremonial terms used throughout the bear feast, never by its true name. "Ear-stump" renders Mansi ankwél, glossed by Munkácsi as tuskó ("log, stump") — the bear's ears are too sacred for plain speech. "Star" renders Mansi sq̈w, glossed as csillag ("star") — the bear's eyes. "Lofty-Dear One" is Numi-Posyén, "Lofty-White One" is Numi-Voikén, "Lofty Sky" is Numi-Tárém, and "Kworés" is Surmiñ-Kworés — all names or aspects of the sky god, the bear's celestial father. "Magic iron" (peñin kér) is the gun. The closing cry "o-yo-yo-u-u-u" is the ritual shout that ends the bear's waking and begins the next phase of the ceremony.

A Good Works Translation. NTAC + Claude.

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Source Text: Sus kensamlén, uj vq̈ramlén

Mansi source text from Munkácsi, Vogul Népköltési Gyűjtemény III (1893), pp. 194–199. Phonetic transcription by Munkácsi Bernát among the Northern Mansi of Lozvafő village on the Lozva River, 1880s–1890s. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. OCR from the archive.org digitisation of the original Budapest edition; diacritical marks may be partially degraded.

Sus kensamlén, uj vq̈ramlén!
najin jq̈més, jq̈més piné,
q̈trén jq̈més, jq̈més piné
uj kénséltawén.
5 rés-jiw tumin kwol samént,
yq̈ut-jiw vosin kwol samént
uj kensamlén, sus vq̈ramlén!
namin q̈ln posén sussén,
sujin q̈ln posén sussén!
10 najin jq̈més, jq̈més pi'
var né kat-dpér sussén!
q̈trén jq̈més, jq̈més pi'
vámé la'il-dpér ülilálñ!

sipá jáktém tárin ülém
15 saka yq̈sá' yujilén,
an nájin jq̈més, jq̈més pi
tat átép netá' náj ánkén
et'i sq̈s atin kátéi
yq̈sát tülwásén,
20 yq̈li sq̈s atin kátéi
yq̈sát tülwásén.
an nájin jq̈més, jq̈més piné
vouta nuj tinin kemplil
por sin kwol-kan porsá
25 yq̈sát yot yositq̈wés;
tat átép netá náj ánkén
lakw rusip rusin tq̈r-sámél
por sin kwol-kan porsá
yq̈sát yot yosyitq̈wés.
30 uj vq̈ramlén, sus kénsamlén!

Sus kénsamlén, uj vq̈ramlén!
yq̈li-séri telém porát,
ankér taléypá sát ülápsin
unt vöráp-né üpikén
35 turá suj, nelmá suj
yq̈sát totwés.
tq̈réspalít yasá pákwa
yq̈sát tülémtaptéstá,
möléy q̈lmén porát
40 ankér taléypá sát ülápsin
uj-saw sawin patilél
pusén jq̈máslén,
yq̈li-séri telém porát
pilá telém pilin sujén
45 pusén yöltilánén.
an q̈s sipá jáktém tárin ülém
saka yq̈sá' yujilén.

möléy q̈lmén porát
sipá jáktém tárin ülém
50 yujein:
akw' pál ankwél-palén
sipá jáktém tárin ülém
yujlíali,
akw' pál ankwél-palén
55 nq̈nyá' yq̈ntili.
Numi-Posyén ja'in
kit ñir jés'yatné
nq̈nyá' yq̈ntili,
Numi-Voikén ja'in
60 kit pum jés'yatné,
nq̈nyá' yq̈ntili,

möléy q̈lmén porát
sipá jáktém tárin ülém
yuje'in:
65 akw' pál sq̈w-palén
sipá jáktém tárin ülém
yujilali,
möt pál sq̈w-palén
Numi-Tárém jáyénné
70 nq̈nyq̈' sunsi,
Surmiñ-Kworés ásén
yotá' álné sát sq̈wa
pusén lowintián,
yotá' q̈lné saw posin sq̈wa
75 pusén sq̈nyilán,

akw' pál sáñi-palén
sipá jáktém tárin ülém
yujilali,
akw' pál sáñi-palén
80 yotá' q̈lné sát sámnél
akw' müs at viy.

an q̈s sipá jáktém tárin ülém
tq̈y q̈sinái, tq̈y ti yujilén!!
Sus vq̈ramlén, uj kénsamlén!
85 peñin kér áián ti iñylélatásén.
an nájin jq̈més, jq̈més pi' várné
kát sát dpér tortái sunsálñ!
Yilperiñ jq̈més jékwa
jq̈mésákw ülilálñ!
90 nájin jq̈més, jq̈més pi ünttém
jánkém vöj, pöl'ém vöj suñin kiwrén
jq̈mésákw ülilálñ!
tq̈y jq̈mésákw ülilénén jui-pált
«o-yo-yo-u-u-u» ta rq̈nyawé.

Source Colophon

Mansi (Vogul) phonetic transcription and Hungarian translation from Munkácsi Bernát, Vogul Népköltési Gyűjtemény, III. kötet: Medveénekek (Vogul Folk Poetry Collection, Volume III: Bear Songs), Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893. Munkácsi collected this material among the Northern Mansi of the Lozva River basin in the 1880s–1890s. The original edition is in the public domain. Digitised and available at archive.org (identifier: f1vogulnpklt03munkuoft).

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