Harangoznak Vecsernyére (The Vesper Bells Are Tolling) is a Székely-Magyar folk song from Gyergyóújfalu located in the Carpathian mountains. We recorded it as part of Left/Folk's second compilation "Left/Folk II: Resilience as Praxis": leftfolk.bandcamp.com
This song is about themes of shamanistic spirituality concerning death and is a form of funerary lament about ancestors in the Land and a man whose spirit has rejoined the Land upon his death. In Hungarian burial traditions, a song would be sung from the perspective of the spirit of the dead speaking as a last farewell to the living. Music was used in a spiritual function, often in magic chants of the regös, one of several kinds of Magyar 'shaman'. Music is an interconnecting force, and sound is a living being, part of the personhood of the living world. This is with the understanding that all living beings participate in making music, not just humans.
Harangoznak Vecsernyére, however, would not be directly sung as funeral rites but instead has a similar form to them, expressing emotional knowledge about the tradition. It talks of a woodsman named Uti Miska (a stock character in Hungarian oral traditions) who died in the woods alone. Like all of the dead, he returns to the Land and becomes part of its ancestral memory, sharing his story with others who listen to the wind. The song is sung from his perspective as an oral tradition of music meant for sharing spiritual and ancestral knowledge.
In Magyar spirituality, there is more than one soul within a living being (and by living being, we mean not only animals and plants, but beings considered "inanimate" in "Western" settler-colonial worldviews, such as rocks, streams, winds, the Land, and so on...all have souls and are living...they are persons, and a human has been many things and can become many things when they reincarnate). The "lélek" or breath-spirit/body-soul is the life force and living memories of the individual that become part of the ancestral memory of the Land. The lélek is exhaled out of the body upon death. This spirit goes on to dwell within the Land and become part of the rest of the living world. Thus the Living are composed of the Dead.
The other spirit which goes onto reincarnate in new life is called the "ört" in Mari and might be referred to as the "íz" in Hungarian. This is the shadow-spirit. Often it is attached to the "lélek", especially if there is a difficult passing, as seems to be the case with the protagonist of this song, and may result in a "ghost". To these ends, some Finno-Ugric peoples go to great lengths to help spirits of the dead move on and not return to their old dwelling places. In some cultures, it is important to bury or even burn all of the individuals' possessions when they have died or to change the appearance of one's home to "confuse" the spirit so that they cannot find where they once lived.
Nøkken has provided an essay about the song itself and its deeper roots in Hungarian spirituality and Finno-Ugric shamanistic beliefs in general which may be read here: nokken.band/vesperbellslore
lyrics
Lyrics of Original Song
Magyar:
Harangoznak vecsernyére,
Gyere pajtás az erdöre,
Az új útnak tetejére,
Az új útnak tetejére.
Mindën embërnek mëghagyom,
Sötét rëggel fát ne vágjon;
Mert én sötét rëggel vágtam,
Szerëncsétlen órán jártam.
Testem törött a bokorba,
Vérem kihullott a porba;
A madarak pásztorolták,
Énekszóval virrasztották.
“Azt a gazdája megtudta,
Mindgyár utána indula.
Meg van a koporsó festve,
Uti Miska fekszik benne.”
Nyisd ki apám a kapudat,
Halva hozzák szép fiadat;
Sirass anyám, ne bízd másra,
Most siratsz meg utoljára.
English:
The vesper bells are tolling,
Come, friend, to the forest,
Along the new road to the crest,
Along the new road to the crest.
I instruct all people,
On a dark morning, chop down no tree,
But I on a dark morning felled one,
Ill-fated was the hour.
My body lies broken in the bush,
My blood cooled off in the dust;
Over which the birds kept watch,
Gaily singing as they watched.
“When his master heard of it
He immediately took to the road.
The coffin is painted,
Uti Miska lies in it.”
Father open up your gate,
Your beautiful son is brought dead;
Your mother's weeping, don't trust it to another,
This is the last time you mourn for me.
credits
released March 4, 2021
-CORE MEMBERS-
Nøkken (Fehérló Gortva): Violin, Shaker
Ajatar (Karoline Leal): Viola
Peryton, The Black Stag (Stephen Ian Savage): Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Keyboard, Electronics
-ADDITIONAL CREDITS-
Harangoznak Vecsernyére was produced, recorded and mastered by Stephen Ian Savage.
Folk song arranged and performed by Fehérló Gortva on violin.
This song is dedicated to my mother Andrea Gortva, who helped me with translation and provided additional context and understanding of the song.
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