Mama Lisa's World
International Music & Culture
Kid Songs and Rhymes of
Ukraine
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Here's the French poem Le Thé (Tea) by Théodore de Banville with an mp3 recording.  After the poem...
Here are some of Mama Lisa's recent posts about the music, culture and traditions of Ukraine:
  • Peter wrote asking for help with some Ukrainian rhymes.  Here’s his email: I wonder if anyone can help me with some verses my father use to recite, all I have is some of the words, and the basic ideas behind the verses. One involved fish and vegetables dancing: ????????? (Parsnip) ???? (Fish) The second involved a father sitting on a... Read more »
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    My friend Maria Hayda, who has family from Ukraine, wrote: "Lisa, pussy willow is what we use for our Easters :) since Eastern Europe is unable to grow palm trees... My Grandmother had a huge bouquet she saved thru the decades. Now I’ve started my own bouquet." According to Wikipedia, "The flowering shoots of pussy willow... Read more »
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    Open Culture has a page of free language learning links covering 40 languages. Here are some of the languages you can find links for… Arabic, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, Gaelic, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Maori, Norwegian, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Swahili,... Read more »
  • Teresa wrote asking for help with the words to a Ukrainian song… I am looking for the words to Veewtsi Moyee Veewtsi in Ukrainian. Can you help? My father always sang this in church and I wanted to sing it to him for Christmas but I cannot remember the words, just the tune. I hope someone can... Read more »
  • Stephanie wrote asking for help with a Ukrainian song.  Here’s what she emailed: I just had a quick question. When I was a little girl my grandmother used to sing me a song in Ukrainian about "a little white sheep and a little black sheep".   I was just wondering if you knew what song I was... Read more »
  • Rodolfo Alcaraz Vardulakis wrote: Hi, I am trying to get information about a poem/song that my grandma, who lived in Ukrania until 1918, told my mother when she was a child. She just has her memories of the sounds of that poem, which are the following: Moikoufchic niepisshen ichvet nibagat Noizchdali schliesen ifchem aramat Zatshdovy naitzotche viszeri zedu ivscromnin bouketsi ivcharsim sadu My... Read more »
  • Marijka Hayda wrote: “One superstition that my (Ukrainian) Grandmother always freaked out about was whistling in the house. She said that that calls the devil into the home.” Thanks for sharing that Marijka! Feel free to share any superstitions you grew up with in the comments below. Mama Lisa Read more »
  • Paula wrote to me: My grandmother used to sing me a Ukrainian Childrens song about a train. It went something like this…. Trena, Trena, Zoita Kia mena, ona, douca, Toot, Toot, Toot If you know the song I’m refering to, please send me the words in English or Ukrainian please send them to me. Thanks Paula Zronik I... Read more »
  • Suzy wrote… I wonder if anyone can help me find the meaning to this silly rhyme. I was a little kid when my grandmother used to do this thing with my head in her hands and it phonetically sounded like this (I don’t speak or understand Ukrainian) : Pitchoo Pitchoo bopkoo Sedjoonella bobkoo shi shoolapitch, shi shoolapitch, shi... Read more »
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    In ancient Ukrainian culture, eggs were decorated in a style called Pysanka (plural ‘Pysanky’), using wax and dye. Back in Pagan times, Pysanky where thought to protect people and were placed in homes for that purpose. They were also placed in caskets to capture evil spirits. The artwork on the Pysanky has no definitive visible... Read more »

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