Day 3 - Wij komen van Oosten (We’ve come from the East) [Belgium]
This song for Christmas has an interesting (and confusing) past. Especially for me, since I don't speak or read Dutch! From what I can glean from a number of Dutch language blogs - Thank you, Google Translate! - the text has origins in the 18th century, but some of its now somewhat nonsensical words are distortions of the original text written so long ago. In addition, there are some Belgian references that are lost on non-native speakers. Here's my attempt to make a little sense of it all:
Each verse contains two lines that are clearly related to Christmas and the birth of Christ:
Verse 1 (see below for the full text):
Wij komen van Oosten, wij komen van ver (We come from the East, we come from afar)
Wij zijn er drie koningen met een ster (We are three kings brought by a star)
Verse 2:
Gij sterre gij moet er zo stille niet staan (Thou star thou shouldst not stay so silent)
Gij moet er met ons naar Bethlehem gaan (You must go with us to Bethlehem)
Verse 3:
Te Bethlehem in die kleine stad (At Bethlehem in the small town)
Maria met haar klein kindeke zat (Mary sat with her little child)
Verse 4:
En ‘t kindeke heeft al zo lange geleefd (And the baby lived so long)
Dat ‘t hemel en aarde geschapen heeft (That It created heaven and earth)
Verse 5:
Ja, hemel en aarde en dan nog meer (Yes, heaven and earth and then more)
Dat is er een teken van God de Heer (That's a sign from God the Lord)
Verse 6: this one just contains a note from the singer of the song
Wij hebben gezongen al voor dit huis (We have already sung for this house)
Geeft ons een penning dan gaan we weer naar huis (Give us a token and we'll go home)
Interspersed between and after those Christmas related lines, repeated with each verse, are these lines:
- - - [Christmas related text]
A la beline postiljon
- - - [Christmas related text]
A la beline postiljon, van cher ami tot in de knie
Wij zijn drie koningskinderen
Sa pater trok naar Vendelo, van cher ami
The first bit in the original text was à la berdina kosteljon, a typical popular slip of the French à la berline, postiljon, which meant “to your Berliner carriage, coachman.” And a Berliner carriage was one of the those fancy, horse drawn carriages that kings, queens and royalty traveled around in. Leopold II, the Belgian "Sun King," also drove around in a Berline.
The rest of the text is:
- van cher ami [a corruption of Jeremie, meaning the prophet Jeremiah]
- tot in de knie [????; literally translated: up to the knee; maybe it just sounded like a good rhyme to the last phrase!]
- Wij zijn drie koningskinderen [literally: We are three royal children; a corruption of the earlier text Karel Konings kinderen (King Karl/Charles' children)]
- Sa pater trok naar Vendelo [literally: Father went to Vendelo] is a corruption of the earlier text pater bonne Franselijn [??? the good Father of French-lineage?]
Or something like that! So, for us English speakers, it doesn't make much sense. And even for Dutch speakers, or Belgians, much of it is nonsense. But of course we're fine with:
Hey, diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
So enjoy the song . . . it certainly looks like our singers today are enjoying themselves!
Wij komen van Oosten, wij komen van ver
(We come from the East, we come from afar)
A la beline postiljon
Wij zijn er drie koningen met een ster
(We are three kings brought by a star)
A la beline postiljon, van cher ami tot in de knie
Wij zijn drie koningskinderen
Sa pater trok naar Vendelo, van cher ami
Gij sterre gij moet er zo stille niet staan
(O star, thou shouldst not stay there so silent)
A la beline postiljon
Gij moet er met ons naar Bethlehem gaan
(You must go with us to Bethlehem)
A la beline postiljon, van cher ami tot in de knie
Wij zijn drie koningskinderen
Sa pater trok naar Vendelo, van cher ami
Te Bethlehem in die kleine stad
(At Bethlehem in the small town)
A la beline postiljon
Maria met haar klein kindeke zat
(Mary sat with her little child)
A la beline postiljon, van cher ami tot in de knie
Wij zijn drie koningskinderen
Sa pater trok naar Vendelo, van cher ami
En ‘t kindeke heeft al zo lange geleefd
(And the Baby lived so long)
A la beline postiljon
Dat ‘t hemel en aarde geschapen heeft
(That It created heaven and earth)
A la beline postiljon, van cher ami tot in de knie
Wij zijn drie koningskinderen
Sa pater trok naar Vendelo, van cher ami
Ja, hemel en aarde en dan nog meer
(Yes, heaven and earth and then more)
A la beline postiljon
Dat is er een teken van God de Heer
(That's a sign from God the Lord)
A la beline postiljon, van cher ami tot in de knie
Wij zijn drie koningskinderen
Sa pater trok naar Vendelo, van cher ami
Wij hebben gezongen al voor dit huis
(We have already sung for this house)
A la beline postiljon
Geeft ons een penning dan gaan we weer naar huis
(Give us a token and we'll go home)
A la beline postiljon, van cher ami tot in de knie
Wij zijn drie koningskinderen
Sa pater trok naar Vendelo, van cher ami
Wij komen van Oosten
Wij komen van Oosten - Inge & Nicole
Wij komen van Oosten
Wij komen van Oosten
Wij komen van Oosten - Nigel Campbell Pennick (mountain dulcimer)
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