Sylvias hälsning från Sicilien facts for kids
Sylvias hälsning från Sicilien (which means Sylvia's Greeting from Sicily in Swedish) is a famous poem written by Zachris Topelius in 1853. It later became a popular christmas carol with music by Karl Collan. This song is very special in Finland. It has been translated into Finnish by two people, Elina Vaara and Martti Korpilahti. The version by Martti Korpilahti from 1918 is one of the most loved Finnish Christmas carols. People even voted it the best Finnish Christmas carol in the 1960s and again in 2002 in a poll by Yleisradio, which is a Finnish broadcasting company. The poem is part of a collection called Sylvian laulut.
The poem is about a bird called Sylvia, also known as the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). This bird travels south for winter, often to places like Sicily. The poem talks about the beautiful things in the South, like tall Cypress trees and the famous volcano Mount Etna. But it also shares feelings of missing home and loving one's own country.
The Sylvia Bird and Its Story
The Sylvia bird, or blackcap, is a small songbird that flies to warmer places like Sicily when winter comes to its home in the North. This journey is called migration. In the poem, Sylvia is far from home, but she remembers her homeland.
The poem mentions a cage in the first part. This refers to a sad way birds were sometimes caught a long time ago. A bird would be trapped in a cage and used to attract other birds, which would then fly into a catcher's net. Zachris Topelius, the poet, did not like this harsh way of catching birds.
The idea of the cage in the poem is also thought to represent Finland at the time. Finland was a part of Russia, and even though it had some freedom, it was still controlled by another country. The cage could be a way of showing how Finland felt trapped or held back.
Lyrics of the Carol
The song "Sylvias hälsning från Sicilien" has many verses. Here is the first verse in Swedish, Finnish, and English to give you an idea of the poem's beautiful words.
| Original Swedish 1853 Zachris Topelius |
Finnish 1918 fi:Martti Korpilahti |
English (2019 Ion Mittler) CC BY-SA 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Och nu är det jul i min älskade Nord, är det jul i vårt hjärta också? |
Ja niin joulu joutui jo taas Pohjolaan, joulu joutui jo rintoihinkin. |
And so Christmas time came again to the North, has it come also in our hearts? |
See also
