We’ve previously noted, as one of many mentions of Polish Gods, the following language:
“ysaya lado ylely ya ya…”
Ysaya, presumably refers to Yassa, Lado refers to Lado and Ylely to Leli. But what of the “ya ya”? A jajo is, of course, an “egg”. And an egg seems to fit the timeframe of Easter-Green Holidays with the celebration of the rebirth of nature. So is that the correct answer?
Perhaps. But remember that Jasień has in Polish folklore almost always been associated with a horse (koń or, diminutively, konik) and riding on that horse (jedzie meaning “he rides”). For example:
Oj niema sianka
tylko owsianka
na tém sérokiem polu
przyprowadź Boze
kogo ja kocham
na wroniusińskim koniu
Jedzie Jasieńko,
jedzie nadobny
po zielonej dąbrowie,
rozpuścił cugle
rozpuścił złote
konikowi na głowę.
or the following:
Wysła na pole,
stanęła w dole,
pod zielonym jaworem
i wyglądała
swego Jasieńka
oj z której strony jedzie
Oj jedzie, jedzie,
wesoło wsędzie
po zielonyj dąbrowie;
rozpuścił piórko
rozpuścił strusie
konikowi po głowie.
With all that in mind, let’s compare the Latvian Ūsiņš, who also rides a horse. As shown below (once again from Biezais’ Lichtgott der Alten Letten), rode a horse many a time. The Latvian “rode” is jāja.
So could we then have:
“ysa ya[ya] lado y lely yaya…”
“Yassa rode, Lado and Leli rode.”
As an added point of interest, if you want to know the Latvian for “horse”, it is zirgs. Now, “circus” is cognate with “circle” and the Romans named circular rings that served as arenas, circuses. If you want to know, however, what kind of a horse travels in a circle, an answer to that would undoubtedly have to acknowledge the sky horses of the Moon and the Sun.
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