Rise in the Morning, Wash Your Face lyrics and meaning
Atsikelk Rytelį nusiprausk burnelį,
Aik į rūtų darželėlį /x2
Tu ten nusiskinsi, tu ten nusipinsi
žalių rutų vainikėlį /x2
Vainikėli mano, žaliukėli mano
Puikus tu man ant galvelės /x2
Puikus pardėvėti, gražus pažiūrėti
Nėr nė kokio rūpestėlio /x2
Nuometėlė baltas, jomarkėly pirktas
Sunkus tu man ant galvelės /x2
Sunkus pardėvėti, bjaurus pažiūrėti
Yr visokių rūpestėlių /x2
Rise in the Morning, Wash Your Face: song interpretation
This song can be understood as a song about the freedom of maidenhood and the burden of marriage, set against the contrast between a rue wreath and a nuometas. At the beginning someone is urged to rise in the morning, wash her face, and go to the rue garden to pick rue and weave a green wreath. Rue and the wreath are signs of maidenhood and chastity in Lithuanian songs.
The wreath is described as splendid on the head, beautiful to look at, easy to wear, and without any worry. This image can be read as the carefree freedom of maidenhood. The wreath costs nothing and weighs nothing down, because the girl still lives without the cares of a married woman.
By contrast, the white nuometas, bought at the jomarkas, is heavy on the head, ugly to look at, and full of all kinds of worries. The nuometas, the head covering of a married woman, marks the burden of marriage here. The opposition can be understood as a comparison between maidenhood and married life. This is one possible meaning, but the contrast between freedom and burden is clear in the song.
Rise in the Morning, Wash Your Face: symbols and phrases
- Rue wreath
- A green wreath of rue, a sign of maidenhood and chastity. It is light and carefree, like the girl's unmarried life.
- Nuometas
- The white head covering of a married woman. It is heavy and full of cares, so it marks the burden of marriage.
- Jomarkas
- A fair or market where the nuometas was bought. It suggests that the married woman's lot comes from outside, not from the girl's own garden.
- Rue garden
- The girl's garden where rue grows. It is the space of maidenhood and the warmth of home.
Rise in the Morning, Wash Your Face: song history
"Rise in the Morning" belongs to wedding songs that contrast the signs of maidenhood and marriage: the green rue wreath and the white nuometas. Rue and the rue garden are symbols of maidenhood and chastity in Lithuanian wedding songs, while the nuometas, the head covering of a married woman, marks a new status and the burden of marriage. The repeated structure and the steady contrast between wreath and nuometas, light and heavy, beautiful and ugly, carefree and care-laden, are typical of ritual wedding songs.
The exact place and time of recording are not stated on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. The motif of replacing the wreath with the nuometas belongs to the wedding rite in which the bride symbolically says farewell to maidenhood, so the song is often understood as an account of the bride's lot.
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
Rise in the Morning, Wash Your Face: sources
Rise in the Morning, Wash Your Face: frequently asked questions
What kind of song is this?
It is a wedding song contrasting the freedom of maidenhood, the rue wreath, with the burden of marriage, the nuometas.
What does the rue wreath mean?
The green wreath of rue is a sign of maidenhood and chastity. In the song it is light and carefree, like unmarried youth.
What does the nuometas symbolize?
The nuometas is the head covering of a married woman. Here it is heavy and full of worries, marking the burden of marriage.
Why was the nuometas bought at a jomarkas?
A jomarkas is a fair or market. The detail suggests that the married woman's lot comes from outside the girl's own rue garden, where she weaves her wreath herself.