Holy Christmas Is Coming lyrics and meaning
Oi atvažiuoja šventa Kalėda
Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė
Per aukštus kalnus, per žemus klonis
Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė
Geležų ratais, viržių botagais
Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė
Kalėdų rytų ažerai šalo
Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė
O kas ty mundras ažerais jodė
Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė
Ažerais jodė antelas gaudė
Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė
Antelas gaudė, mergelėm siuntė
Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė
Meaning
This song with the refrain "Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė" can be understood as a calendar song about personified Kalėda, the Christmas feast. At the beginning holy Kalėda arrives across high mountains and low valleys, with iron wheels and heather whips. This image can be interpreted as the feast turned into a traveler who comes to visit.
On Christmas morning the lakes froze. This image can be understood as a sign of winter and the solstice season.
The song then asks who rode cleverly across the lakes, and answers that he rode catching ducks and sending them to young women. These images can be interpreted as a courtship motif woven into a calendar hymn. This is one possible meaning, but the personified Kalėda and winter-holiday character of the song are clear.
Symbols
- Personified Kalėda
- The arriving feast imagined as a traveler. It marks the winter holiday in human form.
- Iron wheels and heather whips
- The gear of Kalėda's arrival. It gives the feast a solemn, almost mythic entrance.
- Frozen lakes
- Lakes frozen on Christmas morning mark the winter and solstice season.
- Catching ducks for young women
- Ducks caught while riding over the lakes and sent to maidens mark courtship inside a calendar song.
History
"Holy Christmas Is Coming" belongs to calendar songs of the winter holiday season, Advent and Christmas, characterized by the stable two-line refrain "Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė" repeated after each line. Through this refrain and the personified Kalėda arriving over hills and valleys, the song joins older Lithuanian winter-solstice hymns in which the feast is imagined as a guest or traveler with iron wheels and whips.
The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through genre features; its dialect is vivid in forms such as "ažerai," "antelas," and "mundras." A courtship motif is woven into the winter calendar landscape, frozen lakes on Christmas morning, riding over the lakes, catching ducks, and sending them to young women, which is typical of Advent and Christmas songs where the feast and young people's marriage expectations intertwine.
Sources
- Lithuanian Folk Songbook, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
- N. Laurinkienė. Reflections of Myth in Lithuanian Calendar Songs, Vilnius 1990
- Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986
- Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia: Lithuanian folk songs
- Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia: calendar songs
- LLTI: Lithuanian Folk Songbook
Common questions
Holy Christmas Is Coming: what kind of song is this?
It is a winter holiday calendar song of the Advent and Christmas season with the refrain "Oi Kalėda, do Kalėdienė."
What does personified Kalėda mean?
Kalėda is imagined as a guest traveling over hills and valleys with iron wheels and whips, a feature of old winter-solstice song imagery.
Why are frozen lakes mentioned?
The lakes freezing on Christmas morning mark the winter and solstice time into which the other images are woven.
What do catching ducks and sending them to maidens mean?
It is a courtship motif woven into the calendar hymn. Winter-holiday songs often join the feast with young people's marriage hopes.