Miorița

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ballad of the little sheep Miorița , known nationwide in Romania, is a national epic and is about the will of a shepherd who is threatened with robbery and who gives his animal his last will. There are hundreds of variants, the most famous of which was first published by Vasile Alecsandri (1821–1890) in 1850 as "Mieoara" and is said to be based on a collection by the writer Alecu Russo. The oldest known version was written down between 1792 and 1794 by officer Ioan Șincai in Bistrița Năsăud .

content

Three shepherds meet with their flocks, in the Alecsandri version a Hungarian from Transylvania , a Moldovan and one from Vrancea (also in the old Principality of Moldova ). The little sheep Miorița (spoken: Mioritza) warns the Moldovan of the impending murder by robbery by the others, whereby the latter submits to his fate. The animal should ask the perpetrators to bury him near his sheep farm. Otherwise it should keep silent about the murder and report that he was married to a queen. At the wedding a star fell, the witnesses were sun and moon, the trees were the guests, the forest birds were the musicians and the stars were the torches. When asked, he should only tell his crying mother that he had married a princess. It should not mention the fallen star or the further details of the wedding.

Others

Moldovan leu with the first two verses: Pe-un picior de plai, pe-o gură de rai (all around the V)
  • The state milk supply under the Ceaușescu government was called Miorița .
  • The first two verses of the ballad are printed on Moldova's paper money .
  • In 2004 a monument to the anonymous creator of the epic, which is also valued in Moldova , was completed on a hill near the Moldovan city of Soroca .

literature

  • Octavian Buhociu: The seal of the sheep . In: Romanian folk culture and its mythology . 1974, p. 282-330 .
  • Mircea Eliade: The prophetic lamb . In: From Zalmoxis to Genghis Khan. Religion and Popular Culture in Southeast Europe . 1982, p. 235-267 .
  • Aurel Rău: Carmen Transsilvaniae - the song of Transylvania. Merian Siebenbürgen, Heft 7 / XXII (July 1969), p. 11 (German translation of the ballad text)

Web links

Wikisource: Miorița - the Romanian text  - sources and full texts (Romanian)