The Parent's Curse — from the 1882 Collection

In Erzya Mordvin folk theology, Death is not an abstraction. She is a woman on a bay horse. She carries a copper jug — for the blood she will collect — and a sharp knife tucked behind her bosom. She is called Kuloma (кулома, "the dying," from the root kulo- , "to die") and her companion is Yomamo (ёмамо, "the perishing," from yoma- , "to perish"). They ride together. They are not cruel — they simply arrive. The condemned man has time to speak. He may ask for a delay. But the delay changes nothing.

The song opens with its own cause: a young man who never spoke the words "father" or "mother" to his parents. The omission is not merely disrespectful — in the Erzya understanding, naming is binding. To refuse to name your father as father is to cut the thread that holds you in the human world. The parent's curse follows: seven years of illness. The young man whitens like a fur coat. His conversations are with the wall. And then Death arrives.

The central moment is the exchange. The dying man asks Death for time: "Let me go ask my father." The parents' answer is devastating: "Child, die your own death yourself. Dear heart, perish by your own destruction." They will not intercede. The curse they laid is the curse they will not lift. But a brother speaks — unnamed, unsolicited — and offers the most radical gift in the Erzya moral universe: "Wait, brother. I will die for you. I will perish for you." The song ends here. Whether Death accepts the substitute is not said. The offer alone is the theology.

This song was collected and published in 1882 by the Orthodox Missionary Society of Kazan in the first volume of Образцы мордовской народной словесности (Samples of Mordovian Folk Literature). No English translation has ever been published.

His mother cursed him seven years.
Seven years he was ill:
He became level with his bed.
He whitened like a fur coat,
His speech was with the wall...

Behind him walks Death,
Behind him rides Destruction:
Under Death a bay horse,
In her hands a copper jug,
Behind her bosom a sharp knife...

"Wait, Death — I will go ask my father.
Destruction — I will ask my mother."

— "Child, die your own death yourself!
Dear heart, perish by your own destruction!"

"Wait, brother — I will die for you.
Wait, brother — I will perish for you."

Colophon

Source: Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1: Песни на Эрзянском и некоторые на Мокшанском наречии (Samples of Mordovian Folk Literature, Volume 1: Songs in the Erzya Dialect and Some in the Moksha Dialect). Kazan: Orthodox Missionary Society Press, 1882. Public Domain (PD Mark 1.0, confirmed on archive.org).

Song translated: "Родительское проклятіе" / "The Parent's Curse" (Erzya title: Прокленизе).

Translation: Good Works Translation (AI-assisted). Translated from the Erzya Mordvin original by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. The 1882 Russian translation was consulted as a reference bridge to clarify Erzya vocabulary. No previous English translation of this song is known to exist.

On Death personified: The Erzya word Kuloma (кулома) is a verbal noun from the root kulo- ("to die") — Death is literally "the dying" or "she who brings dying." Her companion Yomamo (ёмамо) is similarly derived from yoma- ("to perish"). Both are grammatically feminine. Death's bay horse (karey raksha), copper jug (pizhen' kukshin), and sharp knife (pshti peedeze) form a fixed iconographic set in Erzya death-poetry. The copper jug is for collecting the soul-blood; the knife severs the life-thread. Death does not need to hurry. She simply arrives and waits.

On the brother's offer: The substitutionary death motif — one person offering to die in place of another — is found across Uralic and broader Eurasian folk tradition. In the Erzya version, the parents who laid the curse will not lift it; the one who offers to carry the death is not a parent but a brother (ялакскемъ, "my brother/friend"). The Erzya word yalaks means both "brother" and "friend/companion" — the one who walks beside you. The brother does not ask permission. He simply speaks.

On the backstory: The Russian translation gives the cause as "a young man who never said 'father' to his father, never said 'mother' to his mother." The parent's curse (проклятіе) follows this refusal. In the Erzya worldview, naming creates relationship; to refuse the name is to sever the bond. The seven-year illness is not punishment in the judicial sense but consequence in the spiritual sense — the severed bond leaves the man unprotected.

Register: Gospel register (plain, direct, warm).

Scribe: Vös tulku (second), New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Прокленизе

Erzya Mordvin source text from Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1 (Kazan, 1882). Pre-reform Cyrillic orthography preserved as in the original.

Прокленизе сисемь іень пева ававо.
5. Сисемь іеть серелесь:
Адамо марто ровнякшнось.
Шуба ладсо ловтакшналесь,
Стена марто валонзо...

Кулома яки мельганзо,
10. Ёмамо яки мельганзо:
Карей ракша куломань алонзо,
Пижень кукшинъ кедсэнзэ,
Пшти пеедезэ потсонзо...

„Ужо молянъ, кулома, тетянь кевсса,
15. Ёмамо, авань кевсса"...

— „Тякай, эсь куломасотъ тонсь кулокъ,
Дугай, эсь ёмамсотъ тонсь ёмакъ!"

„Ужо, ялакскемъ, куланъ кисэть,
19. Ужо, ялакскемъ, ёманъ кисэть".

Source Colophon

Source text: "Прокленизе" (The Parent's Curse), from Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1 (Kazan, 1882). Erzya original in pre-reform Cyrillic orthography. Public Domain. Digitised text extracted from the DJVU file at archive.org.

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