Green Pear in the Meadow lyrics and meaning

Lygion lankelėn
Stov žalia grūšelė,
Sejo vėjo gaspador, kalėda.

Po tuoj grūšeli
Stov aukso krėslalis.
Sejo vėjo gaspador, kalėda.

Tami krėslaly
Sėd jaunas bernelis.
Sejo vėjo gaspador, kalėda.

Gromatėlį rašo,
Mergelai siuncia,
Sejo vėjo gaspador, kalėda.

Būsi nebūsi,
Nor paminėsi,
Sejo vėjo gaspador, kalėda.

Green Pear in the Meadow: song interpretation

This song with the refrain "Sėjo vėjo gaspador, kalėda" can be understood as a calendar courtship song. At the beginning a green pear tree stands in a level meadow, and beneath it is a little golden chair. The green pear and golden chair can be interpreted as an elevated, almost cosmic image of the world's center.

In that chair sits a young man who writes a little letter and sends it to a young woman. This image can be understood as a courtship message carried by writing.

The letter says: whether you will be or not, at least you will remember. These words can be read as a modest invitation to accept the young man's attention, or at least to remember him. That is one possible meaning, but the calendar courtship motif is clear.

Green Pear in the Meadow: symbols and phrases

Green pear tree in the level meadow
A green pear standing in the open meadow, marking an elevated tree and world-center image.
Golden chair
The golden chair beneath the tree marks honor and solemnity.
Young man
The young man sitting in the chair and writing a letter is the courtship figure.
Letter to the girl
The message written and sent by the young man marks a courtship address.

Green Pear in the Meadow: song history

The repeated refrain "Sėjo vėjo gaspador, kalėda" clearly connects this song with calendar ritual songs, including Christmas, Advent, and oration songs in which the refrain "kalėda" was sung while moving from yard to yard and wishing the household prosperity and happiness. Such songs often weave in a courtship image: a young man sitting beneath a wondrous tree writes a letter to a young woman, so the calendar ritual structure merges here with a youth courtship motif.

The exact recording place and time are not given on the page, so the song is presented by genre traits. The green pear tree in the level meadow and the golden chair beneath it recall world-tree and mythical-center imagery, frequent in calendar songs; variants of such images have been recorded in various Lithuanian regions.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • N. Laurinkienė, Mito atšvaitai lietuvių kalendorinėse dainose, Vilnius 1990
  • Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Green Pear in the Meadow: sources