Gardens, Gardens, Leliumoj lyrics and meaning

Sodai sodai, leliumoj
Sodeliai žalieji, leliumoj.

Jau jūs nesprogsit, leliumoj
Jau jūs nežaliuosit, leliumoj

Ateis žiema, leliumoj
Šalta žiema, leliumoj

Oi, tu, kiškeli, leliumoj
Tavo trumpos kojos, leliumoj

Tu neišbėgsi, leliumoj
Neiššokinėsi, leliumoj

Pagaus tave, leliumoj
Margieji kurteliai, leliumoj

Nušaus tave, leliumoj
Jaunas strielčiukaitis, leliumoj

Nudirs tavo, leliumoj
Baltus kailinaičius, leliumoj

Gardens, Gardens, Leliumoj — second version lyrics

Sodai sodai, leliumoj,
Sodeliai žalieji, leliumoj.

Jau jūs nesprogsit, leliumoj,
Jau jūs nežaliuosit, leliumoj.
Ateis žiema, leliumoj,
Gili žiema, leliumoj.
Kiški širmi, leliumoj,
Tavo trumpos kojos, leliumoj.
Tu neišbėgsi, leliumoj,
Neišokinėsi, leliumoj.
Pagaus tavi, leliumoj,
Margieji kurteliai, leliumoj.
Nušaus tavi, leliumoj,
Jaunas strielčiukėlis, leliumoj.

Gardens, Gardens, Leliumoj: song interpretation

This song, with the refrain "leliumoj," can be understood as a song about approaching winter and a hunted hare. At the beginning the green orchards are addressed and told that they will no longer bud or grow green, because cold winter will come. This image can be interpreted as the cycle of the year and nature falling asleep.

The song then turns to the little hare, whose legs are short, and says that he will neither run away nor leap away. This image can be understood as the picture of a weak, helpless creature facing approaching danger.

At the end the little hare is caught by the spotted hounds, shot by a young hunter, and stripped of his white pelt. These images can be interpreted as an unavoidable fate, the conclusion of the hunt. That is one possible meaning, but the motifs of winter and the hunted hare are clear in the song.

Gardens, Gardens, Leliumoj: symbols and phrases

Green orchards no longer growing
Orchards that will no longer bud or turn green. They mark the yearly cycle and nature's sleep.
Winter
The coming cold, deep winter. It marks the season of cold and decline.
Hare with short legs
A hare unable to escape. It marks the weak and helpless facing danger.
Hounds and hunter
The hounds that catch the hare and the hunter who shoots it. They mark unavoidable fate.

Gardens, Gardens, Leliumoj: song history

"Gardens, Gardens" with the refrain "leliumoj" belongs to calendrical ritual songs: the fixed, almost incantatory refrain "leliumoj" is characteristic of Advent and Christmas-season songs and other ritual songs in which each short line is repeated with a refrain. The song has a two-part structure - first the fading of green orchards as winter approaches, then the fate of the hunted hare - so the text connects the yearly cycle of nature with the themes of danger and decline.

No exact recording place or time is given on this page, so the song is presented by genre features. The refrain "leliumoj" and the gradual, formulaic listing of images allow it to be associated with winter-cycle ritual repertoire; a second variant is also given, with small verbal differences such as "deep winter" and "gray hare," showing that the song circulated in variants.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • N. Laurinkienė. Mito atšvaitai lietuvių kalendorinėse dainose, Vilnius 1990
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Gardens, Gardens, Leliumoj: sources