Poppy, Little Poppy lyrics and meaning
Aguona, aguonėla,
Aguonėla, agano.
Aguona, aguonėla,
Mažagrūdė, agano.
Aguona, aguonėla,
Kur tu augai, agano?
Aguona, aguonėla,
Svetimoj šaly, agano.
Aguona, aguonėla,
Lydžia, leidžia, agano.
Aguona, aguonėla,
Sesė broliuku, agano.
Variant from the Slaviūnas collection (SlS III-1501, recorded 1935 in the Taujėnai area)
Aguona, aguonėla,
Aguonėla, agano,
Aguona, aguonėla,
Mažagrūde, agano,
Aguona, aguonėla,
Kur tu augai, agano?
Aguona, aguonėla,
Kur tu ėjai, agano?
Aguona, aguonėla,
Svetimon šalin, agano.
Aguona, aguonėla,
Lydžia, leidžia, agano.
Aguona, aguonėla,
Sese broliukų, agano.
Poppy, Little Poppy: sutartinė interpretation
The poppy is a plant of tiny seeds and fragile memory. Mažagrūdė, "small-grained," describes the plant accurately, but it also creates the impression of a fate that can be scattered easily.
The foreign land and the sister-brother escort move the poppy into the human sphere. This can be a sutartinė of sending off, travel, or separation, where the plant speaks about a human condition.
A second reading hears the poppy being led or released into a foreign land, escorted by a sister and a little brother, as close to wedding leave-taking imagery. The bride, like the poppy, is left in another household's country, and the brother accompanies her. In Lithuanian tradition the poppy is also connected with sleep, calm, and ancestral souls: poppy milk is eaten on Kūčios, Christmas Eve. The sutartinė can therefore be read not only as a song about a plant, but as a ritual image of a girl's passage from her parents' home into her husband's kin, or even across the boundary between the living and the dead. This layered reading is strengthened by its belonging to the builinė instrumental tradition, where the ritual sound itself mattered more than narrative.
Poppy, Little Poppy: symbols and phrases
- Poppy
- A fragile, small-seeded plant linked with seed, scattering, sleep, and memory.
- Small-grained
- An image of the poppy's tiny seeds, intensifying the sense of fragility.
- Foreign land
- A space of departure, separation, or new fate; in wedding songs it often marks the husband's kin and home.
- Sister and little brother escort
- A motif of accompanying someone away, close to the bride's leave-taking.
- Agano
- A refrain vocable that holds the rhythm of the sutartinė.
Poppy, Little Poppy: sutartinė history
"Aguona, aguonėla" is listed in Slaviūnas' collection as volume III, no. 1501, a trejinė. According to the collection metadata, it was sung in October 1935 by four singers from the Taujėnai and Siesikai volosts of Ukmergė county: Teresė Dirsienė (70) and Marijona Smetonienė (61) from Užulėnis, Morta Jasikonienė (66) from Lėnas, and Karolina Masiulienė (64) from Jurgelioniai. The text was written down in 1935 by J. Dovydaitis (LTR 660(47)), and the melody was transcribed from a disc by the composer and folklorist Jadvyga Čiurlionytė. The performers specified that the sutartinė was "builinė": that is, it was also played on instruments made from builis, a type of skudutis. The sound recording itself has not survived, which makes the printed Slaviūnas text especially important.
This entry belongs to the same Taujėnai-Užulėnis layer of singers as "Žilvytis žaliavo": in 1935, the same women recorded several sutartinės now preserved by the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore.
sources
- Z. Slaviūnas. Sutartinės, vols. 1-3 (1958-1959)
- Zenonas Slaviūnas sutartinės collection, LTR 660(47) (sutartines.info)
- D. Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė. Sutartinės: Lithuanian Polyphonic Songs (2002)
Poppy, Little Poppy: sources
Poppy, Little Poppy: frequently asked questions
What does "agano" mean?
It is a refrain vocable. Its importance lies in the rhythm of the voices, not in a direct dictionary meaning.
Why is the poppy called small-grained?
Poppy seeds are very small, so the description is concrete and at the same time symbolically fragile.
What is the foreign-land motif?
It is a space of departure, separation, or new fate. In songs it is often connected with weddings and leave-taking.
Who sang this sutartinė?
In 1935 it was sung by four women from the Taujėnai and Siesikai volosts. J. Dovydaitis wrote down the text, and J. Čiurlionytė transcribed the melody from a disc.
What does "builinė" mean?
It means a sutartinė connected with an instrumental tradition played on instruments made from builis, a kind of skudutis; the ritual sound was central.
Has the sound recording survived?
No. The recording associated with this sutartinė has not survived, so Slaviūnas' printed text is the main source.