Listen
...
Today the sky is sullen black, the day itself is sullen,
today all folk are sorrowing, the mountains are in mourning,
today the lawless wicked Jews have taken the decision
that they will crucify the Christ, the King of every being.
The Lord himself expressed the wish to go into a garden
and hold a mystic supper there,
which all should have a part in.
The Holy Virgin, Holy Mother, a solitary figure,
just said her prayers and offered them
to help her sole-begotten.
...
Translated by John Leatham
Το μοιρολόι της Παναγιάς (Θράκη)
...
Σήμερα μαύρος ουρανός, σήμερα μαύρη μέρα
σήμερα όλοι θλίβονται και τα βουνά λυπιούνται
σήμερα βάλανε βουλή οι άνομοι Εβραίοι
για να σταυρώσουν το Χριστό, των πάντων βασιλέα.
Κι ο Κύριος ηθέλησε να μπει σε περιβόλι
να λάβει δείπνο μυστικό, για να τον λάβουν όλοι.
Η Παναγιά η Δέσποινα καθόταν μοναχή της
τας προσευχάς της έκανε για τον μονογενή της
...
The Moirolόϊ or Lament of the Virgin, very widely known throughout Greek lands, is a long medieval rhyming poem of literary origin, but impressively familiar to broad sections of the populace. Influenced by relevant passages in the Gospels and by Church hymnography, it is an anthropocentric narrative lament for the sufferings of Christ on the way to his crucifixion and death, as observed and felt by his tragic mother. Chanted by women around Christ’s tomb in the manner and style of the mundane dirges they know so well, it expresses their compassion and identification with the maternal, human nature of the Virgin. Nonetheless, the way in which it is ritually performed lays bare the custom’s pre-Christian origins.
While there are local differences in some features of the song or in its melodic treatment, the structure and form of the moirolόϊ as well as its performance bear impressive similarities to those sung in lands as far apart as Lower Italy, Pontos, and Cyprus. The continuity of its narrative flow is clearly evinced in the sequence we have dared to select here of passages occurring in versions of varied provenance. Miranda Terzopoulou (1998)
Translated by John Leatham
Recorded in a studio, in 1978.
