A long time ago, in the fertile Ukraine,
There were thousands of families who farmed the plain.
But they were forced to emigrate - they lost all their rights.
These peace-loving folks were the Mennonites.
There were Friesens and Peters, and Loewens and Wiebes,
The Hooges and Hamms, Bergen, Nickel and Wiens,
Some Epps and Lepps and Redekops, Sawatzky and Wall
And one could be related to them all.
They brought their traditions and their Mennonite rules;
On Saturdays their kids went to German school.
In church, the men and women sat separately,
and they all sang in four-part harmony:
There were Thiessens and Klassens, Regier and Braun,
Hildebrandt, Penner, Funk, Stobbe and Krahn,
The Froese and Toews and Sudermans, and Janzen and Vogt;
They kept themselves apart from the "English" folk.
They worked very hard every day of the week,
But Sunday was for church and an afternoon sleep.
The house was clean and food prepared the day before,
'Cause visitors could just show up at the door.
They'd have Zwieback and rye bread, with jam and cheese,
Peppermint cookies and Perishky,
Delicious homemade liverwurst, hot mustard that was sweet,
And watermelon pickles for a tasty treat.
The women would meet to sew quilts for each bed.
Folks helped each other out so they'd all get ahead.
They butchered cows and pigs, and fried up the lard,
And they smoked farmer sausage in their back yard.
They ate fruit-filled perogies with a creamy sauce,
Cabbage rolls, Borscht, and apricot Platz,
Some rich and fluffy Easter bread, baked in a tin,
And the Omas gave you more 'cause you looked too thin.
They were real big supporters of the M.C.C.
They volunteered time and gave generously,
But in shopping, they would bargain if a price was too steep,
And some would even say they were kind of .….frugal.
They had huge family weddings which were lots of fun,
Laughing and joking in their Low German tongue.
And every living relative was there to celebrate;
They fed the whole crowd for ten cents a plate.
Well, years have gone by, things are different today,
The new generation has found its own way.
They opened up the church doors, so all may come in,
And the Mennonite church has a whole new spin.
And now there's Crawford, McClelland and Balaban,
Rogusky, Colussi, Doyle, Fryer and Chan.
The Greggs and Grays and Hennesseys, and so many more;
And they're still all related as before --
Cause we're all brothers and sisters in…the…Lord
