O Ovsen! O Ovsen!
Who, who will go
Along that bridge?
Ovsen will go there,
And the New Year,
O Ovsen! O Ovsen!"

With this song the young folks endeavor to encourage the people who
are about to cross the gulf between the known and the unknown, the
Past and the Future Year; at the same time they scatter good seed for
them to reap a bountiful harvest. Often the boys sing the following
Kolyadki:

"Afield, afield, out in the open field!
There a golden plough goes ploughing,
And behind that plough is the Lord Himself.
Holy Peter helps Him to drive,
And the Mother of God carries the seed corn,
Carries the seed corn, prays to the Lord God,
Make, O Lord, the strong wheat to grow,
The strong wheat and the vigorous corn!
The stalks there shall be like reeds!
The ears shall be (plentiful) as blades of grass!
The sheaves shall be (in number) like the stars!
The stacks shall be like hills,
The loads shall be gathered together like black clouds."

How singularly appropriate it seems that boys, hungry at all times,
should be the ones to implore the god of fruitfulness to bestow upon
their people an abundant harvest during the coming year!