Belle wrote to us asking for help with a Ukrainian poem that she would recite for Christmas in her youth. Here’s her email:
Hi,
When my relatives would gather for Christmas, 55+ years ago, we children would have to say poems, sing songs, play instruments, etc. after receiving our gifts and before we could open them. I’m trying to find the entire version of a poem that I can only remember the first 4 lines of. It was in the Ukrainian language, and best I can translate it goes something like this:
In the dark forest
Where there walks a sly fox
Grew a fir tree (Christmas Tree?)
And with it a rabbit lived.
or something like that. Does it sound familiar and do you know where I might find the poem?
Thanks for any leads.
Thanks,
Belle
If anyone can help with this poem, please comment below.
Thanks in advance!
Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Christmas, Countries & Cultures, Holidays Around the World, Languages, Poems, Poetry, Questions, Ukraine, Ukrainian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
November 16th, 2016 at 2:31 pm
Came across your site looking for spanish lyrics to ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ : sent a request to my dear Ukrainian friend in Edmonton, Canada, he in turn got in touch with a friend who sent him these 2 links. She couldn’t find an older version.
Hope it helps~ Barbara in Baja, Mexico ~
http://www.poetryclub.com.ua/metrs_poem.php?poem=17178
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0RDx4AwM7M
November 16th, 2016 at 2:40 pm
Thanks so much Barbara! Can you tell who the author is if possible? :) Mama Lisa
December 10th, 2016 at 4:52 pm
From the first link you can see (if you understand Ukrainian of course :) ) that the author is Ivan Nekhoda (1910-1963). This rhyme is very popular in Ukraine. Children are often taught to it.
One more link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4X25yV8L1M
December 10th, 2016 at 8:59 pm
Thanks for the info Taras!