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Ο Γιάνναρος επόθανε
Yannaros –eh, boom-boom-boom– Yannaros expired.
Yannaros expired and willed, that son of Satan willed
they weren’t to bury him against a church nor monastery,
but only at a cross-road site were they to bury him
and they must leave his prick erect, exposed three handspans high,
so when the king goes by that way he’ll hitch his mount to it.
Three nuns hear tell of this event and off they go to see.
The first a taper takes with her, the other incense bears,
whereas the third drops down her drawers so she might squat on it.
Translated by John Leatham
Ο Γιάνναρος ε, μπουμ, μπουμ, μπουμ,
ο Γιάνναρος επόθανε,
ο Γιάνναρος επόθανε κι άφησε διαθήκη του διαβόλ’ ο γιος
κι άφησε διαθήκη:
Να μη τον θάψουν σ’ εκκλησιά, μήτε σε μοναστήρι,
μονάχα να τον θάψουσι πάνω σε σταυροδρόμι,
ν’ αφήσουν και την πούτσα του τρεις πιθαμές απάνω,
για να περνά ο βασιλιάς να δένει τ’ άλογό του.
Τρεις καλογριές τ’ ακούσασι και παν’ να τονε (δ)ούσι,
η πρώτη φέρνει το κερί κι η άλλη το λιβάνι
κι η τρίτη ξεβρακώνεται να πα’ να κάτσει απάνω.
The song of this ludicrous dead man, known throughout Greece, sums up the philosophy of Carnival: death is the other side of life, for nothing really dies, as Éliade writes, but reverts to its fundamental substance, awaiting the spring resurrection. The earth does not annihilate human beings; on the contrary, with its life-giving force it strengthens the symbol of their reproductive power and renders it immortal. However, this magical transference can only occur, and the promise of resurrection can only apply, in a place that is far removed from the world view and jurisdiction of the church: at a ‘magic’ crossroads, governed somewhere by infernal spirits. There the potent dead will acquire befitting sanctity, to which every authority will show submission with worshipful ceremonies of another, eternal religion. Miranda Terzopoulou (1994)
Live recording at Panorama Cultural Society, in Athens, in 1990.
