My Father's Bright Manors lyrics and meaning
Mano tėvelio margi dvareliai,
Dzirkuliniai langeliai.
Po tais langeliais, po dzerkuliniais,
Alyvužė žaliavo.
O ir atjojo jaunas bernelis
Ant juodbėro žirgelio.
O ir pririšo bėrą žirgelį
Prie alyvos šakelės.
Oi, taškė, blaškė bėras žigelis
Alyvužės šakelę.
O ir nulaužė bėras žirgelis
Alyvužės šakelę.
My Father's Bright Manors: song interpretation
This song can be understood as a courtship song about an arriving young man and disturbed calm. At the beginning the father's bright manors with glass windows are mentioned, and under those windows a lilac grows green. The green lilac can be interpreted as a sign of the girl's flowering and the peace of her home.
A young man arrives on a dark bay horse and ties the horse to a lilac branch. This action can be understood as the young man's arrival and his intrusion into a guarded space.
The tied bay horse tosses, shakes, and finally breaks the lilac branch. This breaking can be interpreted as the disturbance of peace, and in folk songs such an image is often connected with the loss of a girl's chastity or carefree state. That is one possible reading, but the motif of arrival and disruption is clear in the song.
My Father's Bright Manors: symbols and phrases
- Bright manors and glass windows
- The father's decorated home with glass windows. It marks wealth and the girl's domestic space.
- Green lilac
- The lilac growing beneath the windows. It marks the girl's flowering and the peace of home.
- Dark bay horse by the lilac
- The young man's horse tied to the lilac. It marks the young man's arrival and intrusion.
- Broken lilac branch
- The branch broken by the horse. It marks disturbed peace, often associated in songs with the loss of chastity.
My Father's Bright Manors: song history
"My Father's Bright Manors" belongs to love and courtship songs in which a young man's arrival at a girl's home is shown through images of nature and homestead. The young man riding up on a dark bay horse and the horse tied to a lilac are typical arrival motifs in courtship songs; the lilac growing under the windows stands in for the girl and the calm of her home.
The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. The axis of the song is the broken lilac branch: in folk songs, a branch broken or stripped by a tied horse often symbolizes the disturbance of the girl's peace or the loss of chastity, so beneath the idyllic homestead image lies a warning layer.
sources
- Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
- Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986
My Father's Bright Manors: sources
My Father's Bright Manors: frequently asked questions
What kind of song is this?
It is a love and courtship song about a young man riding to a girl's homestead, a typical courtship motif.
What does the green lilac under the windows mean?
The green lilac often marks the girl, her flowering, and the calm of her home.
What does the broken lilac branch symbolize?
A branch broken by a tied horse often means disturbed peace, and in folk songs it can be connected with the loss of a girl's chastity.
Why is the young man's horse tied to the lilac?
Tying the horse to a plant by the girl's home marks the young man's entry into a protected domestic space; the later broken branch becomes the song's climax.