Then It Set lyrics and meaning

Tai ažusėda
Šviesi saulė ažu kalna

Tai ažusėda
sesyciutė ažu stala

Tai pasirėmė
Ant baltų rankelių

Tai pažiūrėja
Ant žalių rūtelių

-Gal tau nusboda
Gražusai pulkelis?

-Gal tau patika
Moterų vargelis

-Gal tau nusboda
Daržely dainuoti

-Tai tau patika
Lopšelis liūliuoti.

Then It Set: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a song about a girl's transition from maidenhood into womanhood. At the beginning the bright sun sets behind the hill, and the sister sits down at the table, leans on her white hands, and looks at the green rue. The parallel between the sun and the sister can be read as an evening, transitional mood, while the rue marks maidenhood.

The girl is then asked whether she has grown tired of the beautiful group of young people and whether she has come to prefer women's hardship. These questions can be understood as a reflection on whether the girl is ready to leave free youth behind.

At the end she is asked whether she has grown tired of singing in the garden and whether she prefers rocking the cradle. This opposition can be read as the boundary between carefree maidenhood and the cares of motherhood. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of transition from maidenhood to womanhood is clear in the song.

Then It Set: symbols and phrases

Sun behind the hill, sister at the table
The sunset and the seated girl are set in parallel. They mark an evening mood and a life transition.
Green rue
The rue the girl looks at. It marks maidenhood and chastity.
Beautiful group
The company of young people that may have grown tiresome. It marks the free life of maidenhood.
Rocking the cradle, women's hardship
The child's cradle and the cares of womanhood. They mark the burden of motherhood and marriage.

Then It Set: song history

"Then It Set" belongs to family songs that sing of a girl's passage from carefree maidenhood into womanhood. The song is built from parallelism and a chain of questions: sunset, the sun behind the hill, is set beside the sister sitting at the table, hands lowered and looking at the green rue; then she is asked whether she has grown tired of the "beautiful group" and of singing in the garden, and whether "women's hardship" and rocking a cradle have become more appealing.

The exact place and time of recording are not stated on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. The oppositions, rue against cradle, song against hardship, draw a line between maidenhood and motherhood; here, as in other Lithuanian songs, rue marks maidenhood and chastity, so the song is often connected with reflection on married life.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Then It Set: sources