The Bright Sun Rises lyrics and meaning

Užteka teka šviesi saulelė,
Vai, čiūta čiūta, žalia rūtelė.
Vai, čiūta čiūta, žalia rūtelė.

Užtekėdama randa žvaigždelę
Ketina laumė alų darytie
Visas žvaigždeles susiprašytie
Tiktai saulelės napaprašytie
Palauk, laumele, kerštą darysiu
Devynis rytus neužtekėsiu
Kitus devynis rasos nekrėsiu

The Bright Sun Rises: song interpretation

This song with the refrain "čiūta čiūta, green rue" can be understood as a mythological song about the sun and a laumė. At the beginning the bright sun rises and finds a little star, while the laumė intends to brew beer and invite all the stars. This image can be interpreted as a mythical feast.

Then it is said that the laumė invites all the little stars, but does not invite the sun. This image can be understood as the sun's grievance at being the only one left out.

At the end the sun threatens revenge: for nine mornings it will not rise, and for nine more it will not scatter dew. This threat can be interpreted as the response of personified nature, where sunlight and dew are conditions of life. That is one possible meaning, but the mythic motif of the sun and laumė is clear.

The Bright Sun Rises: symbols and phrases

Bright sun
The rising and later offended sun marks a personified heavenly body.
Laumė brewing beer
The mythical laumė preparing beer for a feast marks a mythological being.
Uninvited sun
The sun left out of the feast marks grievance and exclusion.
Sun's revenge: not rising, not scattering dew
The threat to withhold sunrise and dew marks the withholding of light and moisture necessary for life.

The Bright Sun Rises: song history

"The Bright Sun Rises" belongs to songs of a mythological character, close to calendar ritual lyric. The genre is indicated by the story of the relationship between the sun and the laumė: the laumė intends to brew beer and invite all the stars to the feast, but does not invite the sun, and the offended sun threatens revenge by not rising for nine mornings and not scattering dew for another nine. Explaining heavenly phenomena through the actions of living beings, along with the repeated refrain "čiūta čiūta, green rue," is characteristic of the old mythological layer of song.

In Lithuanian mythology, laumės are old pre-Christian beings often connected with water, spinning, and weaving, while in Baltic belief the sun was treated as an important, living and feeling heavenly body. The exact recording place and time are not given on this page, so the song is presented by genre traits; the formula of the sun's revenge expresses the importance of light and dew as conditions of life.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • N. Laurinkienė, Mito atšvaitai lietuvių kalendorinėse dainose, Vilnius 1990
  • Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

The Bright Sun Rises: sources