Oh Sister, Sister lyrics and meaning

This sutartinė, with the refrain "čiūto rūto," can be understood as a song joining courtship and motherhood. At the beginning the rings ring and rattle, the svoteliai - matchmakers or wedding guests - ride up, and they tie their horses at the gate. The image suggests the arrival of courtship or a wedding party.

The singing sister then says that she did not sleep at night, did no work by day, and did not eat with the household because she washed a child with warm and cold water, wrapped it in fine white swaddling cloths, laid it in a cradle, and amused it with little rings. These images point to the care of an infant or small child.

A second reading joins courtship and childcare into a compressed image of a woman's life path: from the arrival of the wedding party, marking youth and marriage, to sleepless nights by the cradle, marking motherhood. The sutartinė seems to foretell and accompany the girl through her roles, giving ritual meaning to a woman's lot. The ringing rings at the beginning, as betrothal signs, and the rings used to amuse the child at the end create a circle: the sign of love becomes the joy and labor of motherhood.