About Childhood Rhymes

When I was little, my mom tried to teach me the German language. Being a kid, I found some German words to sound funny then, but I still remember the rhyme she taught me.

"Eins, zwei, Polizei
Drei, vier, Offizier
Fünf, sechs, alte Hex
Sieben, acht, gute Nacht
Neun, zehn, schlafen gehen,
elf, zwelve, Gotthelf."

While playing in the yard, we often recited counting-out rhymes in Polish. My favorite one is perhaps the one in which words have no meaning in this language besides the word "tabaka" ("snuff"). However, the word is used here to give rhyme only, not to make any sense at all. 

"En-ten-tino,
Sa-ca-ra-ca-tino,
Sa-ca-ra-ca i ta-ba-ka,
en-ten-to.
Ranibusek, ranibusek,
en-ten-to."

On the words "ranibusek, ranibusek" [pronounced: rahneebooseck], the kid who was counting out stopped doing that, and with their hand, made two "air circles" in front of their belly. Then, continued counting out again.

Whilst reading the book "Krasna Amerika"* (Beautiful America), I came across this counting-out rhyme in Czech which words are more or less meaningless as well. I quite like it. 

"Angle, pangle, verkum, pek,
štaple, makle, šlaka, flek." 

šlaka = slag
štaple= staples
flek = stain
The words "angle" and "pangle" seem familiar in English, however, are pronounced differently [a:ngleh, pa:ngleh].

Can you remember any rhymes from your childhood?

Photo: Historic school in Kashubia, Poland.

*"Krasna Amerika: A Study of the Texas Czechs, 1851-1939" by Clinton Machann, James W. Mendl, Eakin Press, Austin, Texas, 1983"

X for Xylophone

 

Time for a little story.

There was a bunch of little girls. The girls lived in the same neighborhood and attended a local primary school. They were youth club members of a xylophone group that had its base at a district youth club. That type of youth club was called a "common room" then. It was a place where kids, supervised by an instructor/club employee, played games and did art projects, and it belonged to the city district housing administrators.

Ladybirds Performance - 12 January 1975

Anyway, "Ladybirds" was the name of the xylophone group, and my mom was our music director. She prepared the music arrangements for us and taught us to play the music pieces on the instruments provided by the club management.

We did play various tunes that we learned by heart: classical music, pop songs, and folk melodies, as well. From time to time, the Ladybirds performed at other culture-related places and city district clubs. Our xylophone career did not last long, but it was fun.

I can still remember some of the tunes we played. Here is one of them - can you tell what it is?

E,E,G E,E,G

E,G,C,H*,A,A,G 

D,E,F,D  D,E,F  D,F,H,A,G,H,C

C,C,c  A,F,G  E,C,F,G,A,G,

C,C,c  A,F,G  E,C,F,E,D,C

Ladybirds

Our performance dress code was white blouses, white tights, and navy-blue skirts. The red ribbon made a bow tie. At some point, at my mom's request, the club management provided a ladybird-like fabric: red velvet with black polka dots. Our moms made skirts out of it. Those skirts completed our Ladybird gear.

PS

*H is B in the English nomenclature.

H is for...

 

The letter H is for two things in the second edition of "My Texas Alphabet".

The first one is the Hill Country with its beautiful vast land, fresh air, plenty of deer and other critters, and our day trips.

 When I was little, I drew people dressed in 19th-century-type clothes, ladies in long dresses, and men with top hats and cloaks around their arms. There were also single hills in the background. My teacher laughed at those hills. She said they looked like haystacks. Well, I agree the hilly areas of Poland look different indeed. Anyway, my work was laughed at in the classroom, I got ashamed and never drew those people and landscape again.

Decades later, when still in Poland and with no faintest idea or desire to leave the country, I was told by a psychic that in my previous life in the 1850s, I had lived in the very south of the US. Frankly speaking, I did not take it seriously, so I did not give any thought to that at all then. All in all, soon, I totally forgot about the psychic and her reading.

When I came to the Hill Country, in a strange way it felt like coming home. I found the hills, vast landscape, and views somehow familiar. Then, I recalled my early childhood drawings and the psychic message. Maybe I did live here before? Or maybe not?

The other alphabet "H" is History.
We love learning about the history of the Land, its places, and its people.

---

"My Texas Alphabet" is quite a personal summary of our hitherto life in Texas. 

A Little Rose Song

Recently, my mom has asked me whether the local German choirs sing a song about a little rose. I do not think they have it in their repertoire, but I do know they sing about a white rose of Athens.
The song which mom remembers from her childhood is "Heidenröslein".

Its lyrics were originally a poem written in 1791 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (born 1749/ died 1832). The poem was dedicated to Miss Friederike Brion, a pastor's daughter. Goethe and Friederike were involved in a love affair.

The words of the poem tell a story about a boy who picks a little rose without her consent and her suffering because of that. Metaphorically, it can be taken as a situation when the boy forces himself on a girl.

Who knows what really happened between the two considering that the romance between the writer and Friederike did not last long. Allegedly, the man cut the relationship short, and the lady never married, despite having a proper suitor later. Or maybe it was all the poet's imagination?

Several composers, including Schubert and Lehar, wrote the music for "Heidenröslein". However, it was the tune created by Heinrich Werner in 1829 that made the poem a popular song.

Source: Wikipedia

A Christmas (Related) Story

My auntie had a Nativity set. 

During non-Christmas time, she kept it on the top of the wall unit in their living room. Once, in the summertime, I visited her (I think I was about 5 then). The aunt told me not to touch the Nativity set figurines. Being made of holy communion-type wafers, they were fragile. 

I was too little to see what exactly was up there on the furniture. The aunt's remark made me curious, though. When nobody else was in the room, I took a chair, climbed up, and aahhhh! There they were! Jesus looked so good to me! So good that I ate him. The figurine was a bit dusty, but tasted really good! Baby Jesus was the smallest of them all so I thought little damage was done. 

When my aunt found out that Jesus had disappeared from the crib, she knew it was me. Well, the lady was very displeased, to say the least. My thought then was - auntie should not have told me about the wafer figures. Did I feel guilty? Not really. However, I was ashamed I ate Jesus. 

Dear Aunt, God bless your soul.

Photo: from Nativity display at Holy Ghost Lutheran Church

 

Memories: Dwarfs

When I was little, on every workday my mom walked me to the local kindergarten before she walked to work. Work-day meant from Monday to Saturday (including the latter) as only Sundays were off at that time. Kindergartens in Poland take care of children of three age groups - the youngest group are the little ones, then there is the medium age group and the oldest kids are called the seniors.

My group of little ones was called Dwarfs. During the Carnival time every group, led by their teachers, of course, prepared and gave a little program for parents. It was songs, poems, and dances.

For the day of the show purpose, all Dwarfs were to wear red tights, white blouses, and red hats which were made by the teachers. I also wore red ribbons on my hair and around the blouse collar (I was about 4 then).

As you can see in the above photo, there was a parent who did not follow the teachers' instructions - one girl wore a dress and white trousers, and no hat on her head. It did spoil the overall artistic impression a bit (and displeased the teachers).

 The second photo - the Dwarfs after their performance, an older group is waiting for their showtime.