Čížečku, čížečku

This little birdie knows everything about the poppies

Čížečku, čížečku ("Siskin, o Little Siskin") is a traditional Czech children's folk song and a singing game which was performed in the past as an annual custom supposed to enhance the yield of poppy.^[1]

The song is a chain of verses of the same pattern of call and response:

Call:

"Siskin, o little Siskin, a little birdie,

Tell me o Siskin how the poppy is sown"

Response:

This is how the poppies are sowed (repeated, with variations)

In Czech language:

Čížečku, čížečku, ptáčku maličký,

pověz mi čížečku, jak sejou mák?

Aj tak, tak sejou mák, aj tak, tak sejou mák,

aj tak, tak sejou mák, tak sejou mák.

The call/response are repeated, with the verb "sown" being replaced with other events with the poppies: "grows", "blossoms", "is harvested", "is milled" (option: "crushed"), "is eaten". With every response the children are supposed to show a pantomime how exactly the poppy is sowed, grows,..., eaten.

It may also be arranged in the form of a dance.^[2]

See also

• Chizhik-Pyzhik

References

1. Antonín Václavík, "Výroční obyčeje a lidové umění", Československé akademie věd (Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences), 1959, p. 67
2. Tanečky: #20. ČÍŽEČKU, ČÍŽEČKU (accessed January 21, 2014)

External links

• Čížečku, čížečku , a Czech TV webpage (with video)