Parióme mi madre criome mi tia pusome por nombre ninia y sin fortuna Parióme mi madre en una noche oscura, ni gallo cantaba, ni perro ladraba. Solo la aguililla negras voces daba; parióme mi madre, en una noche oscura
My mother bore me,
my aunt raised me,
she gave me the name
girl without fortune. My mother bore me
on a dark night,
no rooster was crowing,
no dog was barking. Only the little eagle
uttered black cries;
my mother bore me
on a dark night.
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc 1620/5 The dirge tells of a woman born into misfortune and raised away from her mother, marked from birth by darkness and bad omens. Her arrival occurs on a silent, ominous night, her life as predetermined by sorrow and ill luck. Sephardic dirges, called endechas or oinas, were performed by semi-professional women called endechaderas or oinaderas. These songs have as their general topic situations in which death is their central theme. This is a partial version of: Ya crecen las hierbas and it functions both as a song for personal mourning or for collective mourning on the day of Tisha b'Av, the destruction date of both temples in Jerusalem in 586 BCE and then again in 70 CE.
This website was created by Orit Perlman with the collaboration and blessings of Dr. Susana Weich-Shahak in 2025