The strenna that follows was sung, during the Christmas festivities, on the roads and by the houses of friends or notables of the town, accompanied by the sound of the zampogne( bagpipes) and other unexpected instruments (sazieri: mortars).
Following is the original version of the Strina... translating it to English would lose all of its charm..The strenna was meant to wish the people of the house good tidings...
'A Strina
Siti li buon truvati, gran Signori
comu li megli fiesti dintra l'annu
ce su tri fiesti tutti tri maggiori
'u Pasqua, e ru Natale e Capuddannu.
'U Pasqua e ru Natale e Capuddannu
sa beddra rosa chi tieni a ra banna.
Ed io t'aguru tante bone feste
'ppe quantu a Ruma c'hau porte e finestre.
Ed io t'aguru tantu de ricchizza
chi l'uoru lu scupassi 'ppe munnizza.
E tantu mustu ed uogliu
'ppe quantu dici: 'cchiu' ca nu 'ne vuogliu.
Ed io t'aguru tantu migliu e granu
quantu ne fa Gaita e Curiglianu.
E' cumparsa la nive aru Carigliu
chi Diu ti guardi si tui cari figli.
Alluongu, alluongu finu a Santa Chiara
chi Diu ti guardi sa Fata Murgana.
Alluongu , allungu finu a Santu Vitu
chi Diu ti guardi su bellu maritu.
Staiu cantannu supra a 'su scalune
cientumil'anni campa 'ru patrune.
Staiu cantannu supra 'sa spuntunera
cientumil'anni campa 'ra mugliera.
Staiu cantannu a juru de vammace
chi Diu ti manni cuntetizza e pace.
Satiu cantannu a juru d'alivieddru
fammi la sctrina de lu Bumminieddru.
Staiu cantannu senza nuddru ngannu
fammi la sctrina de lu Capuddannu.
Mienzu sa casa ce penne nu gavatune
volimu fa a ........ nu barune.
Mienzu sa casa ce penne na pettinissa
volimu fa a ....... na baronissa.
Mienzu sa casa ce penne na seggia
volimu fa a .......... Masctra 'leggia
E de .......... m'era riscordatu
fuossi patrune de tuttu lu statu.
E de .......... nu bbi dicu nente
fuossi patrune de lu cuntinente.
Sientu nu strusciu 'a scala appenninu:
e' ru patrune chi piglia 'ru vinu!
Sientu nu strusciu 'a ru tavulatu:
e' 'ra patruna chi spica re supersate!
Minteti sa cammisa e falla lestu;
appiccia sa cannila e fammi lusctru.
A 'ru parasaccu li duolu 're gamme,
falla priestu e nun tardare ,
'ca la sctrina m'ha de fare
e nun minne vaju de 'ccani
si la sctrina nun mi fai!
Canta 'ru gaddru e scuotula 're pinne
vi lassu a bona sira e jamuninne !!!
(The names of the members of the family for which the strina was being sung replace the dots above). At this point the door was opened and the head of the household offered to the carolers wine, ' cuddrurieddri, pastries, and other things.
Edited by Franca Gambaro
We also introduce an ancient nenia handed down orally that was sung accompanied to the sound of the zampogne. It's the story of a shepherd who describes the wonders of the night of Christmas to Gianpietru: the sleeping shepherd whose statuina is prominently displayed in all our mangers(presepi). This poem is from a collection put together by Ada Trotta.
A Gianpietru
Caru Gianpietru, ti la stai scialannu,
a su bellu lucise stiennicchijatu,
pocu ti curi e nente vue sapire
de su mare de guaji c'haiu passatu.
Stanotte č stata tanta luminusa
chi li turnisi cce putie cuntare.
La luna quantu n'aira graziusa
e ru cielu de stiddri mbrasticatu.
E ra puddrara cumparia famusa
vurria chi ti ci avisse ben ritruvatu.
Tu Culangelu miu, Dio ti perduni,
chi volisti restare a su pagliaru.
Chi volisti restare a su pagliaru
a fare suonni chijni a ri buccuni.
Tu si venie ccu mie ppe chir'ervara
a guardare le piecure stanotte,
mangiave, scialeria ,squazzave mparu,
autru ca ti mangiave le ricotte.
Dugnu nu fishcu e stisi na currera,
satu li fuossi e re traverse nette:
dui ursi ccuri vui viju venire,
mpasimai, ntisicai cumu nu vette.
Dugnu nu fishcu ppe si frischi cupi,
si viju ncunu cane cumparire.
Si viju ncunu cane cumparire
tutti si diventaru surdi e muti.
M'addugnu de la mandra ppe vidire
li lupi ci hannu fattu guardianu.
Li lupi ci hannu fattu guardianu,
s'hannu mangiatu propriu li vitieddri.
M'addugnu de la mandra ppe vidire
le piecure su sarve ccu re niglie.
Vidie chiru Bumminu stralucia
quann'era mbrazza de la mamma sua.
Sentie sonare ccu ra ribicchina
e ri strammuosci currianu a migliara.
Chi ci la fani e chi na mbilicata,
io li portai na dastra e na sciungata.
Tu Culangilu miu, venecce ancora
si vue scurtare ppe chiri viali
Vatinne timpe timpe de drra ffore,
dannu nun patiria ppe l'animali.
A ra muntagna nun ci ha cchjiu banniti,
nu parmu d'erva ppe tutti li prati.
Tutti li fuossi ne sunn'apparati
de pittule, cuddrurieddri e vucceddrati.
This ' Rumanza' has been transcribed by Ada Trotta (my grandmother), today nearly 80 years old. It was told to her by her grandmother, Giuseppina Cesario (1878-1963), who knew it from when she was a child.
‘A rumanza da Cummari Gatta
It's the story of a cat that wants to get married..when other animals walk past her window she asks them to sing to her...The cat finally picks a mouse to be her husband...On a Sunday while she goes to church, she has a soup cooking on the fire..she asks the mouse to stir the pot every once in a while...but he falls in...When she comes homes, she finds the pot uncovered and when she looks into it, she sees the mouse. There are two endings to this story, the first one says that she throws the soup and the mouse out of the window, the second one says that she eats the mouse and the soup... you make the choice.
The ‘rumanza' de Viola
This is the story of Viola..one of three sisters. The prince wants to marry her, but his mother is a witch and she tries to give Viola some impossible tasks to accomplish...the prince always come to her rescue.
One day she asks Viola to do all the wash, dry it and fold it, one other day she asks her to get all the grain and turn it into flour, and another day she asks her to redo all the mattress and fill them with birds feathers...Viola always completes her tasks with the help of the prince and his magic powers. One day Viola is asked to go to the house of an aunt of the prince and pick up a box. The prince gives her things to help her cross a river, save her from hungry dogs and gives her a warning not to open the box. Viola manages to get there, gets the box, uses those things to cross the river and to escape from the hungry dogs, but she can't resist the temptations and opens up the box. The box contained a bunch of little devils that started to dance around and skip all over, Viola did not know what to do, but the prince came to rescue again. He put all the little devils into the box again and both went back to his castle.
The next day the mother of the prince asked Viola to go into the oven and check to see if it was really hot, but Viola said she did not know how and asked the witch to show her how to do it. The witch believed her and she went into the oven. As soon as she was in the oven, Viola closed the door and burned the witch and she was then able to marry the prince.
A cura di Ada Trotta
Edited and translated to English by Pietro Parrinello- Selden- USA April 4, 1998
