2. 35. Евгений Онегин Eugene Onegin English transl

ЕВГЕНИЙ ОНЕГИН. СТИХОТВОРНЫЙ ПЕРЕВОД НА АНГЛИЙСКИЙ. EUGENE ONEGIN THE NOVEL IN VERSE BY A.S. PUSHKIN VERSE INTERPRETATION BY LARISSA SENEGAL

Глава II-XXXV
 
Они хранили в жизни мирной
Привычки милой старины;
У них на масленице жирной
Водились русские блины;

Два раза в год они говели;
Любили круглые качели,
Подблюдны песни, хоровод;
В день Троицын, когда народ
Зевая слушает молебен,

Умильно на пучок зари
Они роняли слезки три;
Им квас как воздух был потребен,
И за столом у них гостям
Носили блюда по чинам.

     *   *   *

Chapter II-XXXV

They kept in life, serene and mild,
The customs of a bygone time;
At their Maslenitsa*, rich and grand,
There Russian blini were served.

Twice yearly would they fast and pray,
Loved round swings** in merry play,
'Podblyudnyye'*** songs and dancing round,
On Trinity, when folk were found

Yawning through the church's word,
With gentle tears, on the bundle of zarya**** herb,
Three teardrops they would softly shed;
Kvas, like the air they breathed, they need,
And at their table, guests would see,
Dishes served complied with ranks in due degree.


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* Maslenitsa is not only a week to savor some of the traditional Russian food, first of all, the blini, but also time dedicated to entertaining festivities and family gatherings.

** A round swing is an attraction with a rotating axle from which beams with booths where thrill-seekers sit. One or two sturdy blokes at the bottom rotate the axle.

*** Podbludnyye songs are songs that girls sang on holy days in front of the fortune-telling saucer.

**** A bundle of zarya. Zarya in Russia was the name of several kinds of herbs. Why cry over this herb? On the feast of the Trinity, girls brought birch branches, a bundle of grass or a bunch of flowers to the church, dropped tears on them, and then dried these plants and kept them until autumn. It was believed that this could prevent drought.