Chorus. Soul and body sacrificing
For our freedom cherished,
We shall show we are descendants
Of great Cossacks perished!
The Letchworth Temple Press England
[1]. These Pagan songs are very hard to find uncorrupted. In an ancient “Koladka” we find such words as these: “In the forest under the oak-tree seeds are planted; on the seeds youths and maidens are seated and they sing the song Ko Ladi; fire burns under the cattle and an old man sharpens a knife to kill a goat.”
“Ko” means “to”; the young people sing a hymn to their beloved goddess Lada. The “old man” is a priest, sacrificing the offering.—(Crath.)
[2]. Kupalo is the dragon-frost—Muroze, or Koschey; he died, and as snow-water floated down the streams. Symbolically, the Ukrainians, on the day of Ivan-Kupalo, throw his image into the water, and maidens fling garlands on the river and judge of their fortunes by the progress of the wreaths.