Tumsumai lyrics and meaning
Tumsumai, tumsumai naktelių,
Tumsumai, tumsumai naktelių.
Gaidumai, gaidumai gaidelių,
Gaidumai, gaidumai gaidelių.
Siųsk mani, siųsk mani, matute,
Siųsk mani, siųsk mani, matute.
Aš aisiu, klausysiu, matute,
Aš aisiu, klausysiu, matute,
Par tumsias naktelas vaikščiosiu,
Par tumsias naktelas vaikščiosiu.
Pa gailių raselų braidžiosiu,
Pa gailių raselų braidžiosiu.
Siųsk mani, siųsk mani, tėvuti,
Siųsk mani, siųsk mani, tėvuti.
Aš aisiu, klausysiu tevučia,
Aš aisiu, klausysiu tevučia.
Bėruosius žirgelius ganysiu,
Bėruosius žirgelius ganysiu.
Palšuosius jautelius varysiu,
Palšuosius jautelius varysiu.
Tumsumai: sutartinė interpretation
This sutartinė can be understood as a song about an obedient child ready to serve the parents under any conditions. It opens with dark nights and crowing roosters. The child asks the mother to send them and promises to go, obey, walk through dark nights, and wade through sharp dew. This readiness can be read as a sign of obedience and industriousness.
In the second part the same address turns to the father: the child promises to go, obey, graze the bay horses, and drive the greyish oxen. The parallel structure suggests readiness for both night work and field work despite hardship.
A second reading hears the repeated "send me, send me" and the promise to obey through dark night and cold dew as an image of a young person leaving home. The child asks to be sent into the world, into service or work, and promises to endure its difficulties. Dark nights and sharp dew become signs of that hard independent road. The sutartinė speaks of obedience and maturity at once: a child ready to work by night and day is ready to take on an adult's share, and the parallel address to mother and father shows that the blessing is sought from both parents.
Tumsumai: symbols and phrases
- Dark nights
- The night through which the singer promises to walk. It marks difficult conditions for work or an independent path.
- Roosters
- The crowing roosters at the opening mark time passing from night into early morning.
- Sharp dew
- The dew through which the singer promises to wade. It marks cold, hard work.
- Bay horses and grey oxen
- The animals to be grazed and driven. They stand for the field work the child is ready to perform.
Tumsumai: sutartinė history
"Tumsumai" belongs to the family and work sutartinės. It is built on parallelism: the same address and promise to go and obey is directed first to the mother and then to the father, followed by night and field tasks such as walking in darkness, wading through sharp dew, grazing horses, and driving oxen. The sound-word opening "tumsumai... gaidumai" immediately creates a space of night and early morning: darkness and the crowing of roosters.
Sutartinės flourished in north-eastern Aukštaitija from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century; in 2010 they were inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The exact place and collector of this variant could not be confirmed in the publicly accessible Slaviūnas index.
sources
- Z. Slaviūnas. Sutartinės, vols. 1-3 (1958-1959)
- D. Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė. Sutartinės: Lithuanian Polyphonic Songs (2002)
Tumsumai: sources
Tumsumai: frequently asked questions
What is this sutartinė about?
It is about a child asking the parents to send them out and promising to obey and do night and field work.
Why does the song address both mother and father?
The parallelism includes both parents; the child asks for both parents' blessing and promises to work by day and night.
What is the deeper meaning?
The repeated "send me" can also be read as a young person's readiness to leave home for service or independent life.
What does the sharp dew mean?
It means cold, difficult work in the early morning or at night, and more broadly the hardship of an independent path.
What kind of sutartinė is it?
A family and work trejinė sutartinė.