You Red Guelder Rose lyrics and meaning

-Tu pucine,
Tu pucine, tu raudonas,
Kur Žiemelį žiemavojai?

-Kur išdzygau,
Kur išdzygau, ty stovėjau,
Ty Žiemeli žiemavojau:

An upelės,
An upelės, an bistrojos:
Bistrus vanduoj šaknis plaude.

Bistrus vanduoj
Bistrus vanduoj šaknis plaude,
Ty mergelė burnų prausė.

Ty mergelė,
Ty mergelė burnų prausė
Ir prausdama gailiai verke

-Neverk, jauna,
Neverk, jauna mergužela,
Bernužėlio neželavok.

Raikej neicie,
Raikej neicie už žaunieriaus,
Pas Žaunierių ner žemelės.

Pas žaunierių.
Pas žaunierių ner žemelės
Nei žemelės, nei pirkelės.

Cik kardelis,
Cik kardelis prieg šalalės,
Kepurėlė an galvelės.

Raikėj aicie,
Raikėj aicie už bernelio,
Už bernelio, už artojaus.

Pas artojų.
Pas artojų yr žemelė
Ir žemelė, ir pirkelė.

Kepurėlė,
Kepurėlė an galvelės,
O mergelė prieg šalalės.

You Red Guelder Rose: song interpretation

This song can be understood as an advisory song about choosing a suitable husband. At the beginning, the red guelder rose is addressed and asked where it wintered, and it answers that it stood by a swift stream, where swift water washed its roots and a maiden washed her face and wept bitterly. This image can be interpreted as a picture of a weeping girl by the river.

The girl is then comforted and told not to weep or pine for the young man, because she should not marry a žaunierius, a soldier: he has neither land nor cottage, only a little sword at his side and a cap on his head. These images can be understood as a warning about a landless soldier.

At the end, she is advised to marry a young man, a ploughman, who has both land and a cottage. This advice can be interpreted as practical wisdom in choosing a settled ploughman rather than a soldier. That is one possible meaning, but the motif of choosing the ploughman is clear.

A second reading is also possible. The comparison between guelder rose and soldier may be read not only as practical marriage advice, but also as social testimony about the difficult lot of a landless soldier. The žaunierius, with only a sword at his side and a cap on his head, becomes an image of a poor person without home or land, opposed to the ploughman rooted in land and stable life. This contrast connects the love song with the world of military-historical songs, where the soldier's lot is often shown as homelessness and separation from native land. This remains an inference, but it explains why the song stresses the difference in property and land so strongly.

You Red Guelder Rose: symbols and phrases

Red guelder rose by the stream
The guelder rose wintering by the swift stream. It acts as a witness and is paralleled with the maiden.
Weeping maiden
The girl washing her face and weeping by the river. She marks sorrow over love.
Landless žaunierius
A soldier with neither land nor cottage. He marks an unsettled, poor suitor.
Ploughman with land and cottage
A ploughman who has land and a house. He marks a stable, settled suitor.

You Red Guelder Rose: song history

"You Red Guelder Rose" belongs to love and courtship songs in which a girl is advised what sort of suitor is worth marrying. At the beginning, the red guelder rose that wintered by a swift stream is paired with a maiden washing and weeping by the water; this kind of parallel between nature image and human feeling is typical of lyrical love songs. In the second part, two suitors are opposed: a landless žaunierius, or soldier, and a young ploughman who has land.

The specific place and date of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through its genre features; the language is strongly dialectal (žiemavojai, bistrojos, raikej). The advice to choose a settled ploughman rather than a poor soldier joins the love song to a social motif, somewhat close to the world of military songs, about the soldier's landless lot.

sources

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

You Red Guelder Rose: sources