Germans From Russia Just another NDSU Library weblog

A common German-Russian New Year’s Day tradition mentioned in Joseph Height’s Homesteaders on the Steppe, was the tradition of extending greetings to neighbors and friends in the German villages.

Below is a traditional New Year’s greeting in both German and English as found in Homesteaders on the Steppe.

Ich bin a kleiner König
Gewwe mir net so wenig.
Lasst mich net so lange stehn,
Ich muss noch a Häusche weiter gehn.

Ich wünsch Euch e glückliches Neues Johr
A Bretzel wie a Ofenrohr,
A Zuckerstein wie a Tischplatt
Gebt mr en Schnäpsl, dann geh ich fort.

M’r wünsche dem Herr a goldener Tisch,
uff alle vier Ecke en brotener Fisch,
ond en der Mitte a Kanne Woi,
no soll dr Herr mit dr Familie
‘s ganze Johr luschtig soi!

I am a little king,
Don’t give too little.
Don’t let me stand too long,
I must keep moving on.

I wish you a Happy New Year,
a pretzel big as a stove pipe,
a candy like a table top.
Give me a whiskey and I’ll be off.

We wish the master a golden table,
On all four corners a roasted fish,
and in the middle a bowl of wine,
Then the master and family dear
shall be merry the entire year.

Height, Joseph S. “Folk Festivals and Customs,” in Homesteaders on the Steppe. (Bismarck, North Dakota, 1975), 298.

Homesteaders on the Steppe is available for purchase at the GRHC. Click here for ordering information.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 9:03 am and is filed under History & Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.