Lithuanian folk songs
Lithuanian wedding songs
29 songs in this genre
Wedding songs form the largest body of Lithuanian folk song and once accompanied an extended sequence of customs: matchmaking, the bride's evening, removal of the rue wreath, departure from her parents' home, arrival at the groom's household, and ritual exchanges among the guests. Their emotional centre is often separation and irreversible change rather than celebration alone.
This collection presents 29 wedding songs with the original Lithuanian words and English explanations of where each song belongs in the ceremony. Recurring images—the rue garden, wreath, horse, road, mother, and brothers—become clearer when read within that ritual sequence.
A Green Linden Grew Lithuanian wedding song: dialect linden, golden oriole messenger, high hills, pinewoods, young couples, and šliūbas.
Lithuanian courtship and wedding song beyond green woods, horse at rue garden, dowry cart, sister’s departure, symbols, and FAQ.
Dark Night, Sycamore Grove Lithuanian wedding-related song: English context on riding to in-laws, gate opening, sounds of arrival, and FAQ.
Dawn Is Breaking Lithuanian love and wedding song: lost wreath, river, trembling horse, broken promises, and context.
Dogs Are Barking Lithuanian courtship song: barking dogs, groom on bay horse, bride in storehouse, dowry cloth, and checking the suitor's wealth.
Green Copper Lithuanian wedding gate song: dialogue with arriving wedding party, green-copper refrain, request for a husband, and opening the gates.
Green Forest, Green Forest, a Lithuanian wedding-family song about a cuckoo and a bride married to another village and a widower, with negative parallelism.
I Walked Through the Orchards Lithuanian wedding song: bride's gifts to in-laws, red viburnum, family voices, and context.
I Will Go to That Land Lithuanian bridal farewell song: English context on wedding leave-taking, dowry, wreath, family roles, and FAQ.
Little Sister, Ciutela Lithuanian wedding song: English context on bridal wreath, mother, table, carriage, church, and ritual refrain.
Masonry on the Hill Lithuanian wedding song: horsemen, rue wreath, mother-in-law's manor, watering horses, and maidenly modesty.
My Father's Bright Manors Lithuanian wedding song: suitors, horses, rue garden, youngest daughter, dowry, and rue-decorated caps.
Oh Forest, Forest Lithuanian wedding departure song: birds, mother releasing daughter, dowry chests, weeping, hired weavers, and irreplaceable daughter.
Oh Rustle, Forest Trees Lithuanian wedding-family song: brothers building a storehouse, cuckoo calling daughter away, weeping sister, and roads overgrown.
Oh You Little Braid Lithuanian wedding song: bride's braid, wreath removal, nuometas, separation from family, and context.
Oh, Little Swallow Lithuanian wedding song: English context on the swallow, silk nest, bride leaving home, brothers, sisters, and constraint.
Our Brothers Married Lithuanian wedding song: bride's braids, sun and dew, brother-in-law's rake, lost maiden days, and FAQ.
Rise in the Morning Lithuanian wedding song: rue wreath, white nuometas, jomarkas, maidenhood, marriage, and care.
Sweet to Drink Lithuanian wedding song: promised dowry, oxen, harness horses, love, escort, broken promises, and FAQ.
The Bargaining Lithuanian folk song: comic courtship, poor marriage, sacks for bedding, bread and salt, mushrooms, and Rėza source context.
The Duck Floated on the Lagoon Lithuanian Dainava song: captivity, ransom, family refusals, beloved's sacrifice, and green wreath.
The Sparrow Promises to Give His Daughter Lithuanian wedding song: comic opening, luxury cargo, green wreath, and context.
We Had Three Brothers, Leliumoj Lithuanian wedding song: father's manor, mother-in-law's manor, golden shears, and English context.
Lithuanian teasing wedding song with the rigaila refrain, mocked in-laws, empty granary, boasting, greed, and wedding rivalry.
When I Was Growing Up Lithuanian wedding song: groom's horse, father's gift, ride to mother-in-law, strange kin, and FAQ.
Whose Green Yard Is This? Lithuanian wedding song: English context on mother, storehouse, dowry chest, gates, keys, and departure.
Why Do You Sit, Marulė? Dzūkian wedding lament: bride, ritual weeping, dowry, rue wreath, gray horses, and foreign land.
You Light-Footed Fox Lithuanian wedding song on the fox-and-bride parallel: hunters, hounds, the wedding wagon, and farewell.
Young Days Lithuanian folk song from Rhesa: youth passing, rue, wreath, wedding transition, garden imagery, and FAQ.