Oh Forest, Forest lyrics and meaning

Vai giria giria,
Girele žalioji,
Pilna drabnų paukštelių

Giedrią dienelę
Paukšteliai čiulbėjo,
Ūkanotą liūdėjo.

Vai, duoda leidžia
Močiutė dukrelę
In svetimą šalelę,

Su didžiu turteliu,
Su didžiu pulkeliu,
Su jaunaisiais broleliais.

Vai, ji leisdama,
Skrynias jai duodama,
Pati gailiai verkdama.

-Vai, cit, neverkie,
Sena motinėle,
Mane jauną leidama.

Tu prisiverksi,
Senoji močiute,
Kaip mane neturėsi,

Tu prisamdysi,
Sena motinėle,
Svetimas audėjėles.

Per dieną audė,
Mastą neišaudė,
Laužė nendrių skietelį.

Vai, laužė laužė
Nendrių skietelį,
Traukė šilkų nyteles.

Oh Forest, Forest: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a daughter's wedding departure song. At the beginning, the green forest is full of small birds, which chirp on a clear day and grieve on a misty one. This image can be interpreted as mood reflected in nature.

Then the mother releases her daughter to a foreign land with great wealth, a large company, and brothers, giving her chests while weeping bitterly herself. These images can be understood as marriage into distant homes.

At the end, the daughter says that her mother will weep when she no longer has her, and will hire foreign weavers who cannot weave even a measure in a day and who break the reed comb. These images can be interpreted as the loss of a hardworking, capable daughter whom no one can replace. That is one possible meaning, but the motifs of the daughter's departure and her industriousness are clear.

Oh Forest, Forest: symbols and phrases

Forest full of birds
Birds that chirp on a clear day and grieve on a misty one. They mark nature reflecting human mood.
Daughter to a foreign land
The daughter sent to distant homes. She marks marriage away from the birth home.
Chests, wealth, company
Dowry and escort given with the daughter. They mark wedding gifts.
Hired foreign weavers
Weavers hired in place of the daughter but unable to weave properly. They mark the daughter's irreplaceable industriousness.

Oh Forest, Forest: song history

"Oh Forest, Forest" belongs to wedding songs, more precisely to songs of sending off a daughter. The song begins with a nature parallel: the green forest is full of small birds that chirp on a clear day and grieve on a misty one, preparing the main theme: the mother sends her daughter to a foreign land with dowry chests and a wedding company while weeping bitterly. Such comparison between nature and human feeling, or psychological parallelism, and the motif of weeping at departure are typical of wedding lyric.

The exact place and date of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through its genre features. The ending is notable: the daughter comforts her mother by saying that once she is gone, the mother will weep and hire foreign weavers in vain, since they cannot weave a measure in a day and break the reed comb. This motif of skill and irreplaceability is common in departure songs praising the bride's industriousness.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • A. Juška. Lietuviškos svotbinės dainos, 2 vols., Vilnius 1955
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Oh Forest, Forest: sources