The Son Spent the Night lyrics and meaning
Sūnus naktoja naktį par momų,
Sūnus naktoja naktį par momų
Naktį naktoja sapnų sapnavo
Rytų paskėlįs močiutei skė
Motula mano senoji mano
Motula mano išburk sapnelį
Po tiesiai rankai gegutė skrido
Po kairei rankai pilkas sakalas
Jojau per girių --- paukščiai negieda
Jojau per laukų --- žolė nuvyto
Jojau per dvarų --- dvaras nelinksmas
Sūneli mano dimnas sapnelis
Vaikeli mano dimnas sapnelis
Raiba paukštelė --- vėlių martelė
Sakalas pilkas --- vėlių bernelis
Tumsi naktelė --- vėlių motulė
The Son Spent the Night: song interpretation
This song can be understood as a dream-interpretation song that foretells death. At the beginning, a son who has spent the night at his mother's dreams a dream and in the morning asks his mother to divine it. This request can be interpreted as anxiety before the unknown.
He then tells the dream: a cuckoo flew by his right hand, a grey falcon by his left; as he rode through the forest, birds did not sing; through the field, the grass withered; through the manor, the manor was joyless. These images can be read as threatening signs of decline.
At the end, the mother explains the dream as dimnas, dark: the speckled bird is the spirits' daughter-in-law, the grey falcon the spirits' young man, the dark night the spirits' mother. This interpretation can be understood as a foreboding of death, connecting the dream figures with the world of the dead. That is one possible meaning, but the motif of dream and death-omen is clear.
The Son Spent the Night: symbols and phrases
- Dream
- The son's dream, which he asks his mother to divine, signifies a sign of fate.
- Cuckoo on the right, falcon on the left
- The birds appearing in the dream signify ominous signs.
- Silent birds and withered grass
- Images of decline while riding through forest and field signify the nearness of death.
- Spirits' daughter-in-law, young man, and mother
- The dream figures belonging to the world of the dead signify death and the realm of spirits.
The Son Spent the Night: song history
"The Son Spent the Night" belongs to family songs with a mythic layer of dream prophecy: the son, who has spent the night at his mother's, dreams a dream and asks her to "divine" it, while she explains the images as an omen of death. This structure of dream narration and interpretation - symmetrical images such as the cuckoo at the right hand and the falcon at the left, and the withering forest, field, and manor - is typical of old ballad-like family songs in which birds and signs of nature connect with the world of spirits.
The exact recording place and time are not given on this page, so the song is presented by genre. The interpretation of the dream figures - "the speckled bird is the spirits' daughter-in-law, the grey falcon the spirits' young man, the dark night the spirits' mother" - reveals an archaic imagery of spirits and death, which gives the song its mythological shading.
sources
- Lithuanian Folk Songbook, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
- Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986
The Son Spent the Night: sources
The Son Spent the Night: frequently asked questions
What is this song about?
It is a family song about a dream and its interpretation: the son tells a dream to his mother, and she reads it as a death omen.
What do the cuckoo and falcon mean?
They are dream birds and signs. The mother connects them with the world of spirits: the speckled bird is the spirits' daughter-in-law, the grey falcon the spirits' young man.
Why do birds stop singing and grass wither?
Silent birds, withered grass, and a joyless manor are images of decline that warn of approaching death in the dream.
What does "naktojo" mean?
It is a dialectal form meaning "spent the night." The son spends the night at his mother's and asks her in the morning to interpret the dream.