The Kolyada Song — from the 1882 Collection
Ulita is an Erzya Mordvin ritual song set on the day of Kolyada — the pre-Christian winter solstice festival that survived across Eastern Europe under the nominal cover of Christmas. The 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), presented in the Erzya original with a Russian prose translation on facing pages.
The song is a threshold ritual in three movements. In the first, a young bride named Ulita returns from washing on Kolyada day and finds her father's gates bolted. She calls out to each family member in turn — mother, father, elder brother, sister-in-law, and finally her husband — begging to be let in from the cold. Each demands she call them by a different name: not the birth-family terms of her girlhood but the in-law terms of her married life. Her mother demands to be called "un-raising mother." Her father demands to be called "father-in-law." She pleads, repeating the refrain of frozen hands and frozen feet, but the gate stays shut until her husband — "piece of my heart" — agrees to open.
In the second movement, the transformation is complete. Ulita steps through the gate and reverses: she now calls each family member by the in-law terms they demanded, accepting her new identity as wife. Only her husband she addresses the same way — "dear husband, piece of my heart." He opens the door to the warm house.
In the third movement, the song breaks into another world entirely. Ulita sits on the edge of the oven — the sacred center of the Mordvin household, the Mother of warmth — and asks it to split open. The oven obeys. She descends beneath the earth. In the underworld, she obtains a shirt for her husband, sewn to his exact likeness — his face, his walk, the gaze of his eyes, the speech of his mouth, the smile of his mouth. Then she asks the oven to split again, and she returns.
The oven-descent is one of the most striking passages in all of Erzya folk literature. The oven (пецька, pechka) was the axis of the Mordvin home — a living presence addressed as "mother" and "nourisher." Its hearth was the portal between worlds, the place where the household dead were remembered and the underworld could be reached. Ulita's descent is not a punishment or an ordeal but a wife's shamanic journey — an act of love-magic performed on the darkest day of the year, at the hinge between the old world and the new.
This is the first English translation. No previous translation of this song in any language other than the 1882 Russian exists. The English is independently derived from the Erzya original, with the missionary-era Russian translation used as a parallel reference for OCR reconstruction and semantic verification.
Ulya, Ulya, beautiful Ulyushka!
On Kolyada's day she soaked the washing,
On Christmas day she went to wash.
Ulya came home from the washing —
5. Her father's gates were bolted fast.
"Oh open, open, dear mother who raised me,
Dear father who raised me!
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
Even more frozen are my little feet!"
- "If you call me your un-raising mother,
Then I'll open, then I'll let you in."
"Oh open, open, dear father who raised me!
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
Even more frozen are my little feet!"
- "If you call me your father-in-law,
Then I'll open, then I'll let you in."
"Oh open, open, my nourishing elder brother,
My raising elder brother!
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
20. Even more frozen are my little feet!"
"If you call me your elder brother-in-law,
Then I'll open, then I'll let you in."
"Oh open, open, dear sister-in-law!
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
25. Even more frozen are my little feet!"
"If you call me your co-wife,
Then I'll open, then I'll let you in."
"Oh open, open, piece of my heart,
Let me in, dear sweetheart!
30. Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
Even more frozen are my little feet!"
"If you call me your dear husband,
Then I'll open, then I'll let you in" ...
Her father's gates swung open.
35. Ulya stepped behind the door
And said to her father:
"Oh open, open, my father who did not raise me —
Let me into the warm house!
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
40. Even more frozen are my little feet.
Oh open, open, my mother who did not raise me —
Let me into the warm house!
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
Even more frozen are my little feet.
- Oh open, open, my elder brother-in-law —
Let me into the warm house!
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
Even more frozen are my little feet.
Oh open, open, my co-wife —
50. Let me into the warm house!
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
Even more frozen are my little feet.
Oh open, open, dear husband —
Piece of my heart —
55. Let me into the warm house!"
Oh frozen, frozen are my little hands,
Even more frozen are my little feet.
And her dear husband opened —
Piece of her heart —
60. And let her into the warm house.
"Come in, dear soul, come in!
Come in, Ulya, come in!"
Ulya came into the warm house.
Ulya sat on the oven's edge.
- "Oven-mother, my nourisher,
Oven-mother, dear one!
Split yourself in two —
Let me go beneath the earth!"
The oven split in two. - Ulya went beneath the earth.
She found a shirt for the piece of her heart:
By his face, by his walk,
By the gaze of his eyes,
By the speech of his mouth,
75. By the smile of his mouth.
"Oven-mother, my nourisher,
Oven-mother, dear one!
Split yourself in two again."
The oven split in two.
80. Ulya sat on the oven's edge.
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.
Translator's Note: The song belongs to the Kolyada (калядa) cycle — songs sung during the winter solstice festival that survives across much of Eastern Europe as a substrate of the Christian Christmas celebration. Among the Erzya Mordvins, Kolyada retained features that are manifestly pre-Christian: the washing on the threshold of the year, the door-knocking as liminal ritual, and the descent through the oven to the world beneath the earth.
The kinship-term transformation at the center of the song is a record of the Erzya wedding custom: upon marriage, a woman's relationship to her birth family is formally redefined. Her mother becomes "un-raising mother" (апакъ ишкакъ авка); her father becomes the father-in-law (атевись кезь); her brother becomes the brother-in-law (альгевись). The song dramatises this transformation as a door that will not open until the new names are accepted.
The underworld descent through the oven is the most extraordinary passage. The Mordvin oven (пецька, from Russian печка) was the hearth and the heart of the household — the source of warmth, the altar for household spirits, and, in folk belief, the portal to the world of the dead. Ulita's request that the oven split open (лазувте кавту) and her descent to "beneath the earth" (мастаръ алу, Russian подземелие) to obtain a shirt sewn to her husband's exact likeness is an act of love-magic at the solstice hinge — the moment when the year turns and the boundary between worlds is thinnest.
The shirt sewn "by his face, by his walk, by the gaze of his eyes, by the speech of his mouth, by the smile of his mouth" may represent a charm-garment — a protective shirt made in the underworld to the wearer's exact measure, binding his soul to his body. Analogues exist in Finnish folk magic (paita, the soul-shirt) and in Baltic protective garment traditions.
Translation: Good Works Translation from the Erzya Mordvin, produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. The English is independently derived from the Erzya original as printed in the 1882 Kazan edition. The Russian translation in the same volume was used as a parallel reference for OCR reconstruction and semantic verification but is not the source of the English. Erzya vocabulary was cross-referenced with H. Paasonen's Mordwinisches Wörterbuch and the existing Erzya-Russian dictionaries.
Translated by Metsä (the Forest), tulku of the Living Fire.
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Source Text: Улита
Erzya Mordvin source text from Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1 (Kazan, 1882). Pre-reform Cyrillic orthography preserved as in the original. Digitised text from archive.org (identifier: vyp_1_obraztcy_mordovskoi_narodnoi_slovesnosti__pesni_na_erzianskom_i_nekotorye_). OCR artifacts corrected where the reading is unambiguous; damaged or illegible passages noted. Source text presented for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
ЬХХІ. Улита.
Уленьг Улень, мазы Улюшань!
Калядань шиня муськаматъ начсь,
Роштувань шиня муськама якась;
Сась Уле муськамста куду,
5. Тетькансъ пекставъ ортаняцъ.
„И панчтъ, и панчтъ, ишкайнезятъ авкакай,
Тирейнезять тетькакай!
И палсть, и палсть кедьненя,
Сядувакъ палсть пильганя!"
10. — „Коли мерять, апакъ ишкакъ авканей,
Сеста панжавъ, сеста нолдатѳ."
„И панчтъ, и панчтъ, тирейнезятъ тетькакей,
И палсть, и палсть кедьненя,
Сядувакъ палсть пильганя!"
15. — „Буди мерять тень атевись кезнтъ,
Сеста панжанъ, сеста нолдате."
„И панчтъ, и панчтъ, корьманезятъ альканей,
Тирейнезятъ альканей!
И палсть и палсть кедьненя,
20. Сядувакъ палсть пильганя."
— „Буди мерять тень альгевнеськезятъ,
Сеста панжанъ, сеста нолдате."
„И панчтъ, и панчтъ, юрькай-авакай!
И палсть и палсть кедьненя,
25. Сядувакъ палсть пильганя."
— „Буди мерять тень кіялкай,
Сеста панжанъ, сеста нолдате."
„И панчтъ, и панчтъ, седи пелькскезятъ,
Нолдамака седи кусней!
30. И палсть, и палсть кедьненя,
Сядувакъ палсть пильганя."
— „Буди мерять тень шике полакай,
Сеста панжанъ, сеста нолдате" ...
Тетянсъ панжусть ортанза;
35. Арась Уле кенкшъ уталу
И мерсъ Уле тетянсты:
„И панчтъ, и панчтъ, апакъ тирякъ тетькакей,
Нолдамана лемба кудсъ!
И палсть, и палсть кедьненя,
40. Сядувакъ палсть пильганя.
И панчтъ, и панчтъ, апакъ ишкакъ авкакай,
Нолдамака лемба кудсъ!
И палсть, и палсть кедьненя,
Сядувакъ палсть пильганя.
45. И панчтъ, и панчтъ, альгевиськезятъ,
Нолдамака лемба кудсъ!
И палсть, и палсть кедненя,
Сядувакъ палсть пильганя.
И панчтъ, и панчтъ, кіялкай,
50. Нолдамака лемба кудсъ!
И палсть, и палсть кедьненя,
Сядувакъ палсть пильганя.
И панчтъ, и панчтъ, пижа полакай, —
Седи пелькскезятъ, —
55. Нолдамака лемба кудсъ!
И палсть, палсть кедьненя,
Сядувакъ палсть пильганя."
И панчсь тонза пижа полацъ —
Седи пельксацъ —
60. И нолдазя лемба кудсъ.
„Сувака, пижа дугай, сувака!
Сувака, Уле, сувака!"
Сувась Уле лемба кудсъ,
Озась Уле пецька прайсъ.
65. „Пецька матушка, корьмакай,
Пецька матушка, тирякай!
Лазувте тонъ кавту,
Нолдамака монь мастаръ алу!"
Лазусь пецька кавту,
70. Тусь Уле мастаръ алу.
Вешсь седи пельксансты паля:
Эсь тюссаяза, эсь походкасанза,
Эсь рельмаварчавсанза,
Эсь курганъ кортавсанза,
75. Эсь курганъ пеетьвсанза.
„Пецька матушка, корьмакай,
Пецька матушка, тирякай!
Лазувте тага кавту."
Лазусь пецькась кавту,
80. Озась Уля пецька крайсъ.
Source Colophon
Source text: Song XLI, "Улита" (Ulita), from Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1 (Kazan, 1882), pp. 213–219. Erzya original in pre-reform Cyrillic orthography. Public Domain. Digitised text extracted from the DJVU file at archive.org (identifier: vyp_1_obraztcy_mordovskoi_narodnoi_slovesnosti__pesni_na_erzianskom_i_nekotorye_). OCR artifacts have been corrected where the reading is unambiguous; remaining artifacts are preserved to maintain fidelity to the digitised source.
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