At Father's Estate lyrics and meaning

Ant tėvelio dvaro
Stovi balta liepa
Onuo tos liepos
Aukso rasa krit(a) 2×2

Aš tą rasą rinkčiau
Baltai veidą prausčiau
O, kad aš būčiau
balta ir raudona 2×2

Vai mergele mano
Balta lelijéle
Vai ko tu neini
Jauna jaunimėlin 2×2

Vai berneli mano
Baltas dobilėli
Artu nežinai,
Kad aš siratėlė 2×2

Vai ar tu nežinai,
Kad aš siratėlė
Kad aš neturiu
Tėvo motinėlės 2×2

Vai, kad aš neturiu
Tėvo motinėlės
Reikia man imti
Plieno pjautuvėlis 2×2

Reikia man imti
Plieno pjautuvėlis
Reikia man eiti
Ilygu laukelį 2×2

Mesčiau pjautuvėlį
Šalin pabarėlio
Pati nuėjau
Jaunan jaunimėlin 2×2

Dar neužėjau
Anei ant dvarelio
Jau ir pažino,
Kad aš siratėlė ė2×2

Vai bereli mano,
Baltas dobilėli
Ant ko pažinai
Kad aš siratėlė 2×2

Vai dėl to pažinau,
Kad tu siratėlė
Ant tavo galvelės
Rūtų vainikėlis 2×2

Ant tavo galvelės
Rūtų vainikėlis
Rūtų vainikėlis
Ne žaliai žaliuoja 2×2

Rūtų vainikėlis
Ne žaliai žaliuoja
O iš akelių
ašarėlės byra 2×2

At Father's Estate: song interpretation

This song can be understood as the song of an orphan girl, a siratele, about loneliness and longing. At the beginning, a white linden stands by the father's estate, and golden dew falls from it. The young woman would like to wash her face with that dew so that she might be white and red, beautiful. This wish can be interpreted as a longing to be as happy and lovely as other girls.

A young man invites her to the jaunimelis, the gathering of youth, but she reveals that she is a siratele, without father or mother. Instead of merriment, she must take up a steel sickle and go into the field to work. This contrast between labor and the joys of youth can be understood as the hardship of an orphan's lot.

After throwing the sickle aside, the young woman nevertheless goes to the youth gathering, but there she is recognized at once as an orphan: by the rue wreath on her head, which is not greenly flourishing, and by the falling tears. The withered wreath can be understood as a sign of lost protection and sorrow. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of an orphan's pain and loneliness is very clear in the song.

At Father's Estate: symbols and phrases

White linden
The linden standing by the estate is often linked in Lithuanian songs with femininity and home. The dew falling from it begins the young woman's image of longing.
Golden dew
The golden dew with which the young woman wishes to wash marks a desire for beauty and happiness. It is a sign of dream rather than reality.
Siratele
An old word meaning an orphan girl. It is the axis of the whole song and names the young woman's lonely fate.
Steel sickle
The sickle marks the hard field labor that falls to the orphan instead of the pleasures of youth. It emphasizes her hardship.
Withered rue wreath
A rue wreath usually marks maidenhood and vitality, but here it does not greenly flourish. The withered wreath becomes a sign of orphanhood and sorrow.

At Father's Estate: song history

"Ant tevelio dvaro" belongs to family songs, and its core is the theme of orphanhood, or siratyste: the young woman has neither father nor mother, so instead of joining the young people's merriment she must take up a sickle and go into the field. The gradual, step-by-step chaining of stanzas, where each stanza repeats the end of the previous one, is an old lyrical structure that sustains a sorrowful sound close to lament.

The exact place and time of this variant's recording are not given on the page, so the song is presented according to its genre features. The image that reveals the orphan girl's fate, a rue wreath that does not greenly flourish and tears falling from her eyes, is a symbolic formula common in family and orphan songs; motifs of golden dew, the white linden, and the rue wreath occur in many lyrical variants.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, t. 1–23, Vilnius 1980–2011 (LLTI)
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 t., Vilnius 1972–1986

At Father's Estate: sources