From Ventanas Altas de Saloniki, 2013. In this copla, El parto feliz - The Happy Birth, emerges as a communal event, accompanied by prayers and blessings for the entire congregation, blessing the newborn and his mother. After nine months of strain, the midwife urges to push and the woman in birth cries to be released. The father arriving with guests, hold fish in one hand and a string of gold coins in another. The child comes with good omens, may he and his mother live long. This is the best-known of the Coplas de Parida, as evidenced by its many versions. It was published in Constantinople in 1926 by Binyamin ben Yosef in his El Buquieto de Romanzas. Text: Oh, ke mueve meses travates de estrechura, vos nació un hijo de buena ventura, ke viva la parida kon su kriatura. Ya es, ya es buen simán esta alegría. Bendicho el ke mos allegó a ver este día. Kuando la kumadre dice : dale, dale, dice la parida: ah, Dio, eskapadme, dice la su ĝente: amen, amen, amen. Ya es, ya es... Ya viene el parido kon los konvidados, ya trae en la mano cinta y buen peškado, y en la otra mano resta de dukados. Ya es, ya es... Translation: After nine months of tightness, we have a male child, born in good luck.
May the mother live long with her child—
Now, now this joy is a good omen.
Blessed be He who let us reach this day. When the midwife says, “Push, push!”
the mother cries, “Oh God, deliver me!”
and her people answer, “Amen, amen, amen.”
Now, now this joy is a good omen... Here comes the father with his guests,
he brings in his hand a ribbon and fine fish,
and in the other, a string of gold coins—
Now, now this joy is a good omen...
This website was created by Orit Perlman with the collaboration and blessings of Dr. Susana Weich-Shahak in 2025