The Sun Goes Round lyrics and meaning

Eina saulelė aplinkui dangų
Daulėlio, aplinkui dan(gų),

Aplinkui dangų mėnulio kelti,
Daulėlio, mėnulio kel(ti).

--- Kelkis, mėnuli, kelkis, šviesusis
Jau aš, šviesi, seniai kėliausi
Ir nušviečiau visą svietą
Seną, jauną, mažą ir didį

Eina martelė per didį dvarą
Per didį dvarą šešuro kelti
--- Kelkis, šešure, kelkis, tėveli
Jau aš, jauna, seniai kėliausi
Galvijėlius jau privariau
Didį dvarą jau nušlaviau
Baltas skomas užutaisiau
Baltą duoną jau padėjau
Alaus midaus pripildžiau

The Sun Goes Round: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a work song that compares the early sun with an industrious young daughter-in-law. At the beginning, the sun goes around the sky to wake the moon, but the moon answers that it has long since risen and lit the whole world, old and young, small and great. This image can be interpreted as a reflection of old celestial imagery, in which the sun and moon are shown as living beings.

In the second part, the daughter-in-law goes through the great manor to wake her father-in-law. Yet she, like the moon, says she has already been up for a long time: she has driven in the cattle, swept the manor, set the white tables, laid out white bread, and filled beer and mead. This answer can be interpreted as a boast of diligence.

By setting the sun and the young daughter-in-law side by side, the song praises early rising and work already done. It can be understood as praise of a young woman's industriousness, where her labor is likened to the sun that lights the whole world. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of diligence is clear in the song.

A second interpretive layer may also be seen. Alongside praise of work, there may be an older mythic layer: addressing the sun and moon as one goes to wake the other recalls the Lithuanian song and mythological idea of heavenly bodies as kin, including Sun, Moon, and their children. In that reading, the daughter-in-law's insertion into the same parallelism compares a young woman's arrival in a new household with the rhythm of cosmic life, while her morning tasks acquire the meaning of order-maintaining, almost ritual action. This remains a hypothesis, but it helps explain why the song deliberately links the daughter-in-law's labor with the sun and moon.

The Sun Goes Round: symbols and phrases

Sun and moon
The sun goes to wake the moon, though the moon has already risen. They reflect old celestial imagery and begin the theme of early rising.
Daughter-in-law
The young wife who has risen early and completed the work. She is compared with the already-risen moon and the sun.
Father-in-law
The husband's father, whom the daughter-in-law goes to wake. He marks the husband's household, where she now works.
Morning tasks
Driving cattle, sweeping the manor, setting out white bread, beer, and mead. These acts reveal the daughter-in-law's diligence and care.

The Sun Goes Round: song history

"The Sun Goes Round" belongs to work songs praising early rising and diligence, while its image of daughter-in-law and father-in-law also connects it with the world of family and wedding songs. The song is built on parallelism: in the first part, the sun goes to wake the moon, which answers that it rose long ago and lit the whole world; in the second, the young daughter-in-law goes to wake her father-in-law, though she herself has long been up and has finished all the morning work. This comparison of heavenly bodies and human beings echoes old mythic imagery.

The sequence of the daughter-in-law's tasks, driving the cattle, sweeping the manor, preparing white bread and beer, forms the structure of the song and emphasizes the young woman's diligence. The exact place and time of recording for this version are not given, so the song is presented by genre traits; praise of early rising and industriousness is a common theme in Lithuanian work songs.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

The Sun Goes Round: sources