Daina is the traditional name of vocal folk music in the Baltic languages

Baltic languages

The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe...

, and is preserved in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 and Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

. Lithuanian dainas (literally, "songs") are often noted not only for their mythological content, but also for relating historical events.

Most Lithuanian folk music is based around various types of dainas, which include romantic songs, wedding songs, as well as work songs, and archaic war songs. These dainas are performed either solo, or in groups, and in parallel chords or unison

Unison

In music, the word unison can be applied in more than one way. In general terms, it may refer to two notes sounding the same pitch, often but not always at the same time; or to the same musical voice being sounded by several voices or instruments together, either at the same pitch or at a distance...

. There are three ancient styles of singing in Lithuania connected with ethnographical regions: monophony

Monophony

In music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. This may be realized as just one note at a time, or with the same note duplicated at the octave . If the entire melody is sung by two voices or a choir with an interval between the notes or in...

, multi-voiced homophony

Homophony

In music, homophony is a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords. This is distinct from polyphony, in which parts move with rhythmic independence, and monophony, in which all parts move in parallel rhythm and pitch. A homophonic...

, heterophony

Heterophony

In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time in multiple voices, each of which plays the melody...

 and polyphony

Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....

. Monophony mostly occurs in southern (Dzūkija

Dzukija

Dzūkija or Dainava is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Dzūkija is a cultural region defined by traditional lifestyles and dialects of the local Lithuanian population and has never been defined as a political or administrative unit...

), southwest (Suvalkija

Suvalkija

Suvalkija or Sudovia is the smallest of the five cultural regions of Lithuania. Its unofficial capital is Marijampolė. People from Suvalkija are called suvalkiečiai or suvalkietis . It is located south of the Neman River, in the former territory of Vilkaviškis bishopric...

) and eastern (Aukštaitija

Aukštaitija

Aukštaitija is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from the relatively high elevation of the region, particularly the eastern parts.-Geography:...

) parts of Lithuania. Multi-voiced homophony is widespread in the entire Lithuania; it is the most archaic in the western part (Samogitia

Samogitia

Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...

). Duophonic

Duophonic

*In synthesizers, capable of sounding two voices, or notes, at a time. Compare: monophonic, polyphonic.*Duophonic is also a term used to refer to a sound process by which a monaural recording is turned into a kind of "fake stereo" by splitting the signal into two channels, delaying the left and the...

 songs are common in the renowned sutartinės tradition of Aukštaitija

Aukštaitija

Aukštaitija is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from the relatively high elevation of the region, particularly the eastern parts.-Geography:...

. A large number of Lithuanian dainas are performed in the minor key.

Parts of Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

's The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...

are based on Lithuanian dainas, as are works by Lithuanian composer Juozas Naujalis.

Song Festivals of Dainas

Lithuania is home to many folk music festivals. The Dainų šventė (literally "Song Festival") a state-supported festival is perhaps the most famous; it was first held in 1924, and has continued every five years since, helping to keep folk traditions alive. Other major folk festivals include the Skamba skamba kankliai and the Atataria trimitai, both held annually; of historical importance is the Ant marių krantelio, which was held in the 1980s and was the first major festival of its kind. The Baltica International Folklore Festival is held in one of the Baltic states

Baltic states

The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

 every year.

The tradition of mass Song Fests was inscribed in the UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness on intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and the local people who sustain these forms of cultural...

 in 2003.

Sutartinės

Sutartinės (from the word sutarti—to be in concordance, in agreement, singular sutartinė) are highly unique examples of folk music. They are an ancient form of two and three voiced polyphony

Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....

, based on the oldest principles of multivoiced vocal music: heterophony

Heterophony

In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time in multiple voices, each of which plays the melody...

, parallelism, canon

Canon (music)

In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...

 and free imitation

Imitation

Imitation is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's. The word can be applied in many contexts, ranging from animal training to international politics.-Anthropology and social sciences:...

. Most of the sutartinės' repertoire was recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries, but sources from the 16th century on show that they were significant along with monophonic

Monophony

In music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. This may be realized as just one note at a time, or with the same note duplicated at the octave . If the entire melody is sung by two voices or a choir with an interval between the notes or in...

 songs. Recognizing its uniqueness and value UNESCO inscribed sutartinės into the representative list of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2010.

The topics and functions of sutartinės encompass almost all known Lithuanian folk song genres - work, calendar cycle ritual, wedding, family, wartime, historic, etc. Melodies of sutartinės are not complex, containing two to five pitches. The melodies are symmetrical, consisting of two equal-length parts; rhythm

Rhythm

Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

s are typically syncopated

Syncopation

In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

, and the distinctly articulated refrain

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...

s give them a driving quality.

Folk singers categorize sutartinės into three main groups according to performance practices and function:

• Dvejinės (“twosomes”) are sung by two singers or two groups of singers.
• Trejinės (“threesomes”) are performed by three singers in strict canon.
• Keturinės (“foursomes") are sung by two pairs of singers.

Sutartinės are a localized phenomenon, found in the northwestern part of Lithuania. They were sung by women, but men performed instrumental versions on the kanklės

Kankles

The Kanklės is a Lithuanian plucked string musical instrument , related to the zither. It is roughly in the shape of a trapezium or trapezoid . The instrument is fitted with several wire or gut strings under tension which produce tones when plucked...

 (psaltery), on horn

Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

s, and on the skudučiai, a form of panpipes usually played by a group, as well as wooden trumpets (ragai and dandytės). The rich and thematically varied poetry of the sutartinės attests to their importance in the social fabric. Sutartinės were sung at festivals, gatherings, weddings, and while performing various chores. The poetic language is not complex, but it is very visual, expressive and sonorous. The rhythms are clear and accented. Dance sutartinės are humorous and spirited, despite the fact that the movements of the dance are quite reserved and slow. One of the most important characteristics of the sutartinės is the wide variety of vocable

Vocable

In speech, a vocable is an utterance, term, or word that is capable of being spoken and recognized. A non-lexical vocable is used without semantic role or meaning, while structure of vocables is often considered apart from any meaning...

s used in the refrains (sodauto, lylio, ratilio, tonarilio, dauno, kadujo, čiūto, etc.). These vocables are only used for rhythm and sound, they are not meaningful words.

At present the sutartinės have almost become extinct as a genre among the population, but they are fostered by many Lithuanian folklore ensembles, who take great pleasure in keeping them alive.

Raudos

Laments (raudos) are one of the oldest forms of musical poetry. They originate from funeral customs. The first written sources about Lithuanian funeral customs date to the 9th century. Johan Maletius is purported to have written down the first lament in 1551 in a combination of Belarus and Lithuanian languages. The first known example of a lament in the Lithuanian language can be found in a travel diary by J.A.Brand. The development of laments is no different from that of other genres: emerging as part the phenomena of everyday life, they evolve and endure until they vanish when circumstances change. In the 19th and 20th centuries laments grew to resemble songs.

Two types of laments can be found throughout most of Lithuania. Raudos are musical forms sung at funerals, and also by shepherds deploring their fate. Verkavimai are sung by the bride at her wedding.

Many laments reflect the ancient Lithuanian world outlook, and a unique perspective on the afterlife. Laments often depict the world of the souls, where loved ones abide. The anthropomorphizing of trees is another ancient belief found in the texts of laments.

Laments are highly improvisatory, yet the improvisations remain within the bounds of established tradition and poetics. "Professional" lamenters, hired to sing at funerals, displayed great skill in impelling their listeners to tears. Their lamentations were performed for pay: cloth, gloves, bacon, a meal or the like. Young women preparing for marriage would go to them for tutelage.

Lamenting at funerals can still be heard in eastern and southern Lithuania, where this tradition has been particularly strong.

Wedding songs

There is considerable material available about Lithuanian wedding customs. The first written sources are from the 16th and 17th centuries. The greatest amount of material can be found in 19th century academic periodicals and other publications on ethnography and folklore. A classic tome on the subject is A. Juška's

Antanas Juška

Antanas Juška was a Roman Catholic pastor, lexicographer, folklorist, and musicologist....

 comprehensive description of wedding rites, Svodbinė rėda.
Weddings were major celebrations, lasting a week or longer, attended by the relatives, friends of both families, and included the entire village. The great variety of wedding customs gave rise to a wide array of folk poetry and musical forms. Different vocal and instrumental forms developed, such as lyrical, satirical, drinking and banqueting songs, musical dialogues, wedding laments, games, dances and marches.
From an artistic standpoint the lyric songs are the most interesting. They reflect the entirety of the bride's life: her touching farewells to loved ones as she departs for the wedding ceremony or her husband's home, premonitions about the future, age-old questions about relationships between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and the innermost thoughts and emotions of the would-be bride. The rich repertoire of prenuptial lyric love songs is also often ascribed to the category of wedding songs, since the lyrics often have to do with upcoming weddings. During the actual wedding, the lyric songs were sung by the women and girls in chorus, often in the name of the bride. The bride herself usually did not sing.

Humorous-satirical wedding songs often poke fun at "the foreign party"—the groom and his groomsmen, brothers, friends and relatives. The wittiest and most biting humor is reserved for the svotas and svočia, who are invited by the bride and groom to be the hosts or masters of ceremony at the wedding. These are usually sung by girls and women who don't play any other role in the wedding. The melodic style varies from region to region, depending on the area's traditions. In Dzūkija

Dzukija

Dzūkija or Dainava is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Dzūkija is a cultural region defined by traditional lifestyles and dialects of the local Lithuanian population and has never been defined as a political or administrative unit...

, for example, the songs mocking the groom

Groom

Groom may refer to:* Bridegroom, also shortened to "groom", a male wedding partner-Occupations:* Groom , a person responsible for the feeding and care of horses* Certain distinguished roles in the English Royal Household:...

 and his party take on the tonal characteristics of laments and lullabies, which augment the intended effect.

Traditional drinking and banqueting songs often sing of the hops, which cause trouble by making the barrels burst at the seams. These songs are also related to various wedding rituals, melodically they are similar to other songs in the wedding repertoire, and they are often lyrical in nature.

The bride's verkavimai (from verkti—to weep or sob) were an important part of the wedding ritual. They could be heard throughout the wedding celebration up until the bride's departure for the husband's home. Once she arrived there, her weeping was to cease. Verkavimai were free improvisations, although the imagery was quite standardized and did not vary. As young girls prepared for marriage they tried to commit the texts of these laments to memory by learning them from their mothers or "professional" village lamenters.

War-historical time songs

Chronicles and historical documents of the 13th through 16th centuries contain the first sources about songs relating the heroics of those fallen in battle against the Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights

The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...

. Beginning in the 16th century historical documents also provide fragments of historical songs and more detailed accounts of their origins. Later, during the 17th and 18th centuries, attention to historical songs was quite scant. Interest was rekindled during the 19th century when historians resumed their interest in the Lithuanian history

History of Lithuania

The history of Lithuania dates back to at least 1009, the first recorded written use of the term. Lithuanians, a branch of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands, establishing the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the 13th century the short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania. The Grand Duchy...

. Wartime historical songs were again written down and discussed. The most valuable sources of wartime historical songs are the folk song collections of 19th century ethnographers, such as Antanas Juška

Antanas Juška

Antanas Juška was a Roman Catholic pastor, lexicographer, folklorist, and musicologist....

, Simonas Daukantas

Simonas Daukantas

Simonas Daukantas or Szymon Dowkont was a Lithuanian writer, ethnographer and historian. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian national revival, he is credited as an author of the first book on the history of Lithuania written in the Lithuanian language...

, Jonas Basanavičius

Jonas Basanavicius

Jonas Basanavičius was an activist and proponent of Lithuania's National Revival and founder of the first Lithuanian language newspaper Aušra. He was one of the initiators and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 1905 Congress of Lithuanians, the Great Seimas of Vilnius...

, Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann

Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann

Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann was a German orientalist, philologist with interests in Baltic languages, and a mathematics historian....

, Chr. Bartsch

Bartsch

Bartsch is the German name of the Barycz River in Poland. It is also the name of the Eastern-European soup, called borscht in English, in East Prussia.- Family name :People with the surname Bartsch include:...

 and others.

Numerous song variant texts found in publications and archives point to events of the early 17th century. Many mention the Swedes

Swedes

Swedes are a Scandinavian nation and ethnic group native to Sweden, mostly inhabiting Sweden and the other Nordic countries, with descendants living in a number of countries.-Etymology:...

, there are frequent references to Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

 and Battle of Kircholm

Battle of Kircholm

The Battle of Kircholm was one of the major battles in the Polish-Swedish War of 1600-1611. The battle was decided in 20 minutes by the devastating charge of Polish-Lithuanian cavalry, the Winged Hussars...

 (Salaspils

Salaspils

Salaspils is a town in Latvia, the administrative centre of Salaspils municipality. The town is situated on the northern bank of the Daugava River 18 kilometers to the south-east of the city of Riga.-History:...

 in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

). Songs collected in the first half of the 19th century mention battles with the Tatars

Tatars

Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

.

There are numerous wartime historical songs in the song collections of Lithuania Minor

Lithuania Minor

Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, later East Prussia in Germany, where Prussian Lithuanians or Lietuvininkai lived. Lithuania Minor enclosed the northern part of this province and got its name due to the territory's substantial...

, although these are of relatively late origin. Earlier songs from this region sing of the seven-year war (1756–1763), seeing off a soldier to battle (in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 or Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

), farewells to loved ones, gruesome battle scenes, all in traditional poetic imagery. Historical events from the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

 are depicted quite accurately.

The early 20th century war

Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...

 between Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 did not inspire a large repertoire of wartime historical songs. However, the events of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, especially the four year occupation by the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

, were much more widely remembered in song. Songs from uprisings and revolutions, as well as partisan

Lithuanian partisans

The Lithuanian partisans can refer to various irregular military units in different historical periods active in Lithuania against foreign invaders and occupiers:...

 and banishment songs are also classified as wartime historical songs.

Many wartime historical songs were written down without their melodies, and the melodies that are known do not have stylistic characteristics singular to the genre. In general, the character of these songs is not march-like, but more lyric or epic. In time many wartime historical songs became war ballads, a unique genre all its own, which is alive and well to this day.

Calendar cycle and ritual songs

The oldest Lithuanian folk songs are those that accompany the celebrations and rituals of the calendar cycle. They were sung at prescribed times of the year while performing the appropriate rituals. These songs can be classified into several categories: songs of winter celebrations and rituals, i.e. Advent

Advent

Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...

, Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 and the New Year

New Year

The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....

; songs of Shrovetide and Lent

Lent

In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...

, songs of spring and summer, i.e. Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

 swinging songs, and Easter songs called lalavimai; songs for the feasts of St. George, St. John

John the Apostle

John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...

, St. Peter and Pentecost

Pentecost

Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...

. Many rituals and some ritual songs reflect ancient Lithuanian animistic

Animism

Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....

 beliefs in which elements of nature, such as the Sun, thunder

Perkunas

Perkūnas was the common Baltic god of thunder, one of the most important deities in the Baltic pantheon. In both Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, he is documented as the god of thunder, rain, mountains, oak trees and the sky.-Etymology:...

, the Moon, Earth

Žemyna

Žemyna is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian mythology. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. Žemyna personifies the fertile earth and nourishes all life on earth, human, plant, and animal. All that is born of earth will...

, fire

Gabija

Gabija is the goddess of fire and hearth in the Lithuanian mythology. She is the protector of home and family, provider of happiness and fertility. Her name is derived from gaubti or from St. Agatha...

 and other natural objects were worshiped and endowed with spiritual characteristics. The rituals and songs also reflect remnants of plant and death cults.

Winter festivals and songs

The most important winter festivals commenced when the farm chores had been completed—from November through the middle of January. In order to ensure a plentiful harvest for the next year, certain rituals, representing fortune and plenty, were performed. The most important winter festival is Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

. The four-week period of Advent preceding Christmas is a time of staidness and reflection, and the rituals and songs of Advent and Christmas reflect that mood. Songs can be identified by their refrains. Christmas songs, for example, contain vocables such as kalėda, lėliu kalėda; oi kalėda kalėdzieka, while Advent songs contain vocables such as leliumoj, aleliuma, aleliuma rūta, aleliuma loda and others. There are certain melodic differences as well. Songs of Advent and Christmas are the most long-lived in Lithuania and are still sung today in the southeastern area of Dzūkija

Dzukija

Dzūkija or Dainava is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Dzūkija is a cultural region defined by traditional lifestyles and dialects of the local Lithuanian population and has never been defined as a political or administrative unit...

.

Christmas songs are usually thematically related to upcoming weddings, relationships between young people and family members. Songs are rich in associations and parallelisms — human relationships are portrayed through images of birds and plants. This parallel imagery creates a branch-like structure in these songs.
There are several typical melodic characteristics associated with Christmas ritual songs, such as a narrow range, three-measure phrases, dance rhythms, a controlled slow tempo, and a tonal structure based on phrygian

Phrygian mode

The Phrygian mode can refer to three different musical modes: the ancient Greek tonos or harmonia sometimes called Phrygian, formed on a particular set octave species or scales; the Medieval Phrygian mode, and the modern conception of the Phrygian mode as a diatonic scale, based on the latter...

, mixolydian

Mixolydian mode

Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek harmoniai or tonoi, based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; a modern musical mode or diatonic scale, related to the medieval mode.-Greek Mixolydian:The idea of a...

 or aeolian

Aeolian mode

The Aeolian mode is a musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale called the natural minor scale.The word "Aeolian" in the music theory of ancient Greece was an alternative name for what Aristoxenus called the Low Lydian tonos , nine semitones...

 tetrachord

Tetrachord

Traditionally, a tetrachord is a series of three intervals filling in the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency proportion. In modern usage a tetrachord is any four-note segment of a scale or tone row. The term tetrachord derives from ancient Greek music theory...

s.

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is a term used in English-speaking countries, especially in Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Germany, and parts of the United States for the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of fasting and prayer called Lent.The...

 songs are quite unique. They depict the most important moments of the Shrovetide ritual: the battle of Spring with a Winter unwilling to yield, boisterous banquets, abundant and satiated Nature in anticipation of an abundant year. Movement, such as riding sleighs through the fields, often accompanies them to evoke a good harvest. The songs are usually performed in a unique "shouting" singing style. Shrovetide songs have survived only in the eastern part of Lithuania, in the regions of Švenčionys

Švencionys

Švenčionys is a city located north of Vilnius in Lithuania. It is the capital of the Švenčionys district municipality. As of 2005, it had population of 5,658 of which about one-third is part of the Polish minority in Lithuania.- Name :...

, Adutiškis

Adutiškis

Adutiškis is a town in Švenčionys district municipality, in Vilnius County, in southeast Lithuania. According to the 2001 census, the town has a population of 778 people. Town established near Kamaja river. It is border with Belarus....

 and environs.
Since riding to and fro was such an important Shrove Tuesday ritual, it is distinctly reflected in the songs. Reference is made to horses, steeds, riding through fields. There are also some ballad-like songs, such as the one about the young soldier who fell off his steed. Another important Shrove Tuesday ritual was the parade of masqueraders. Special songs, such as beggar songs, accompany the parade.
Most Shrovetide songs are recitative-like and their melodies contain the most archaic ritual melodic characteristics.

During the Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

 celebration and spring in general, the tradition of swinging on swings was quite widespread (in some places during Shrove Tuesday as well). Swinging has magical powers, which induces everything, flax in particular, to grow more quickly. Very distinctive swinging songs have been collected in northern and eastern Lithuania, urging to push the swing as high as it will go. There are also humorous swinging songs, mocking those who failed to hang a swing and those who refuse to participate. There is an entire repertoire mocking young men. The melodic rhythm of these songs is of particular importance, since it has to do with the movement of swinging. Tonally the swinging songs resemble archaic work songs.

The songs of the feast of St. George are associated with the reawakening of spring. Some of them reflect ancient beliefs in the magical power of words, such as the special incantation urging to pick up the keys, unlock the earth and release the grass. In eastern Lithuania we encounter intoned shouts, which attest to their use in rituals. The feast of St. George is traditionally related to animal husbandry. On that day the herds are let out to pasture for the first time, accompanied by shepherding songs, which we usually find classified among work songs.
The Spring feast of Pentecost

Pentecost

Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...

 is the celebration of renewal and flourishing greenery. In its traditions we encounter remnants of pagan beliefs in the magical power of plants. It is also the shepherds' day of festivity, during which they adorn their herds in green wreaths and indulge in food and drink. Before and after Pentecost, tradition demanded that everyone "visit" the crops. Songs called paruginės (from rugiai — rye) associated with this tradition can still be encountered in eastern Lithuania. They were sung by women, who walked through the fields in groups, "visiting" the crops. They sang of the cornflower

Cornflower

Centaurea cyanus is a small annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe. "Cornflower" is also erroneously used for chicory, and more correctly for a few other Centaurea species; to distinguish C...

, of the picking of hops, about relations between daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law, and in some there is reference to the actual "visiting."

Not many songs accompanying the feast of St. John are known. Those songs that have been written down make passing reference to the feast, although the rituals themselves are widely practiced to this day. One of the most widespread traditions is the visiting of fields between the feasts of St. John and St. Peter. The feast of St. John is also known as the Kupolė festival.

Most of the St. John songs which have survived are found in northern Lithuania, including examples of the sutartinės. These polyphonic St. John songs are commonly called kupolinės, which include refrains and vocables such as kupolėle kupolio, kupolio kupolėlio, or kupole rože.
The feasts of St. John and St. Peter marked the end of the calendar festival song cycle. Songs which were sung during summer and autumn accompanied chores and belong to the genre of work songs. The exception is Vėlinės

Vélines

Vélines is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...

 on November 2 during which the dead were commemorated. However, there are no specific songs that have been recorded relating to this day. Laments and orphans' songs are often associated with Vėlinės

Vélines

Vélines is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...

.

Work songs

Work songs are among the oldest forms of folklore. They came into being when rudimentary manual labor was employed. As farm implements improved and the management of labor changed, many work songs were no longer suitable for accompanying the tasks and began to disappear. Many of the songs became divorced from the specific job and became lyrical songs on the subject of work to be sung at any time. Work songs vary greatly in function and age. There are some very old examples, which have retained their direct relation with the rhythm and process of the work to be done. Later work songs sing more of a person's feelings, experiences and aspirations. The older work songs more accurately relate the various stages of the work to be done. They are categorized according to their purpose on the farm, in the home, and so on.

Herding songs

Herding songs make up a considerable portion of the repertoire of work songs. They are further categorized according to who sings them and by subject matter. Shepherd

Shepherd

A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...

 songs are sung by children, while nightherding songs are sung by adults. Shepherd songs can further be categorized into hollos and signals; verkavimai, or laments to the sun, clouds or the wind; raliavimai (warbles) intended to quiet the animals; songs bemoaning the difficult lot of orphans; children's songs about animals, beasts and birds which the shepherds would sing while resting. There are two subcategories of nightherding songs: ones for tending oxen, and the others for pasturing horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s.

The shepherding songs reflect tending of animals, the social situation of children, as well as references to ancient beliefs

Lithuanian mythology

Lithuanian mythology is an example of Baltic mythology, developed by Lithuanians throughout the centuries.-History of scholarship:Surviving information about Baltic paganism in general is very sketchy and incomplete. As with most ancient Indo-European cultures Lithuanian mythology is an example of...

. There are humorous shepherd songs, which do not contain any biting mockery, but are good-natured gibes, with scenes from the everyday life of a shepherd. The most archaic and most closely related to the task of herding are the hollos and signals, lament

Lament

A lament or lamentation is a song, poem, or piece of music expressing grief, regret, or mourning.-History:Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human history have been laments. Laments are present in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and laments continued to be sung in elegiacs accompanied by...

s and warbles.

The most primitive forms of shepherding folklore are hollos and signals, used to call and calm the animals, and for communication between the shepherds. Frequently they consist of onomatopoeia, such as kir-ga-ga, ralio, ėdro ėdro, stingo, uzz birr, etc. Melodically the hollos are very simple, usually consisting of short motifs composed of thirds and fourths.

The recitative-like melodies of shepherds' verkavimai are akin to funeral laments. The shepherds bewail their fate and ask mother Sun to warm them, or the clouds to move on.

The raliavimai or warbles are also recitative type melodies, distinguished by the vocable

Vocable

In speech, a vocable is an utterance, term, or word that is capable of being spoken and recognized. A non-lexical vocable is used without semantic role or meaning, while structure of vocables is often considered apart from any meaning...

 ralio, which is meant to calm the animals. The raliavimai have no set poetic or musical form. They are free recitatives, unified by the refrains. Some warbles end in a prolonged ululation

Ululation

A is a long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound resembling a howl with a trilling quality. It is produced by emitting a high pitched loud voice accompanied with a rapid movement of the tongue and the uvula. The term ululation is an onomatopoeic word derived from Latin...

, based on a major

Major third

In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the minor third three...

 or minor third

Minor third

In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor third spans three semitones, the major...

.

Songs for herding oxen dealt with the job at hand. They were often sung by women, since they were the ones doing the herding. Images of young love were common; some about reciprocal love, others about the heartbreak of a jilted girl. The melodies are lyrical.

Horse pasturing songs were sung by men since the men were the ones who rode out at night. They are songs of love and relationships among young people.
The melodies of nightherding songs have certain common stylistic characteristics. Many have a galloping rhythm and tell a love story.

Ploughing songs

The cycle of fieldwork on the farm begins with ploughing. Not many of them are known to exist. They are among the most artistically interesting of Lithuanian lyrical folk songs. They describe the work itself, as well as rural life, relationships and love between young people. The melodies are not specific as the melody is not related to the movement of the work being done. However, the rhythm of the song could be coordinated with the step of the ploughman.

Haymaking songs

A great number of haymaking songs have been recorded in Lithuania. They are also subcategorized into hay mowing and raking songs. Many songs combine both topics. Hay raking songs are more melancholy than the mowing songs, and they often contain imagery about an orphan girl. Other songs describe all of the tasks associated with haymaking, beginning with the mowing and ending with the feeding of the hay to the animals. Haymaking songs often personify a clover or other beautifully blossoming flower, and often contain references to love. Young peoples' feelings are expressed through the images of the haymaking process. For example, the song "Ein bernelis per lankelę" (There goes a lad through the field) tells of a brother working in the field with a steel scythe

Scythe

A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...

. He plans to mow the clover

Clover

Clover , or trefoil, is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the leguminous pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes...

 and adorn his hat with it before enticing the young maiden. In contrast to these love songs are songs focusing on the topic of war. They ruefully sing of the brother who must go off to the great war. Many songs tell off the rounding up of recruits, which shows that these songs are from the first half of the 19th century.

Refrains are common in haymaking songs. The most common vocable used is valio, hence — valiavimas, the term for the singing of haymaking songs. The vocable is sung slowly and broadly, evoking the spacious fields and the mood of the haymaking season.

Haymaking songs evidence two distinct stages in their melodic development. The melodies of earlier origin are similar to other early work songs, especially rye harvesting songs, which take a central position in the work song repertoire. Later haymaking songs have a wider modal range and are structurally more complex. Most are in major and are homophonic. However, both types of songs contain the vocable valio — in the northern Highlands (Aukštaitija

Aukštaitija

Aukštaitija is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from the relatively high elevation of the region, particularly the eastern parts.-Geography:...

) as well as in Samogitia

Samogitia

Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...

.

Rye harvesting songs

The harvesting of rye

Rye

Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...

 is the central stage in the agricultural cycle, therefore the most abundant repertoire of work songs is related to rye. Some songs tell of the actual harvesting of rye, while others metaphorically portray a driven, running row. In some songs the work is considered noble, while in others the difficulty of the work is stressed: the mood is doleful and sad, love and marriage are the prevailing topics. Images of nature are very frequent, often making up an entire independent branch to a song. Family relationships between parents and children are often discussed, with special emphasis on the hard lot of the daughter-in law in a patriarchal

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...

 family. The war, mythological elements and orphanage are also mentioned. In humorous songs specific villages are mentioned, mocking the young residents, the poor harvest, the inept masters, the surly mowers, etc.

The rye harvest concluded with a celebration, which centered on the weaving of a rye wreath

Wreath

A wreath is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs and/or various materials that is constructed to resemble a ring. They are used typically as Christmas decorations to symbolize the coming of Christ, also known as the Advent season in Christianity. They are also used as festive headdresses...

, called ievaras or jovaras, taking it home and presenting it to the master.

The most important element of rye harvesting songs is their unique melodic style, determined by the close connection to ritual and the function of the work. The embodiment of the style can be found in southeastern Lithuania — Dzūkija

Dzukija

Dzūkija or Dainava is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Dzūkija is a cultural region defined by traditional lifestyles and dialects of the local Lithuanian population and has never been defined as a political or administrative unit...

. The modal

Musical mode

In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...

-tonal

Tonality

Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...

 structure of some of these songs revolves around a minor third

Minor third

In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. The minor quality specification identifies it as being the smallest of the two: the minor third spans three semitones, the major...

, while others are built on a major tetrachord

Tetrachord

Traditionally, a tetrachord is a series of three intervals filling in the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency proportion. In modern usage a tetrachord is any four-note segment of a scale or tone row. The term tetrachord derives from ancient Greek music theory...

.

Oat harvesting, flax and buckwheat pulling and hemp gathering songs

Rye harvesting songs are also closely related to other work songs: oat

Oat

The common oat is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name . While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed...

 harvesting, pulling buckwheat

Buckwheat

Buckwheat refers to a variety of plants in the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, the North American genus Eriogonum, and the Northern Hemisphere genus Fallopia. Either of the latter two may be referred to as "wild buckwheat"...

 and flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

 - these tasks had much in common and were performed by women. Shared rhythmic and tonal structures attest to their antiquity.

Some buckwheat and oat harvesting songs have distinct texts and consistent melodies, however, just as in the rye harvesting songs, some of them never mention the work being done. Oat harvesting songs sing of the lad and the maid, of love and marriage. The function of the song can be determined from the melody. Others songs do mention the work process, naming almost every step: sowing

Sowing

Sowing is the process of planting seeds.-Plants which are usually sown:Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sowed, grasses and legumes are seeded, and maize and soybeans are planted...

, harrowing, cultivating, reaping, binding, stacking, transporting, threshing

Threshing

Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain...

, milling, and even eating. In addition to he monophonic

Monophony

In music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. This may be realized as just one note at a time, or with the same note duplicated at the octave . If the entire melody is sung by two voices or a choir with an interval between the notes or in...

 oat harvesting songs of Dzūkija, there are quite a few sutartinės from northern Aukštaitija, which are directly related to the job of growing oats.

Buckwheat pulling songs, which are found only in Dzūkija, do not mention the work. The only reason we know that they are sung while pulling buckwheat is from the singers' explanations. Busy bee

Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...

s in the lyrics parallel young maidens busy at their weaving.

Many songs are associated with pulling flax and communal flax breaking. Flax pulling songs reflect the cycle of tasks of cultivating and harvesting the flax. Linen objects are referred to affectionately. In some songs the images of growing and working the flax are seen through the relationship of a boy and his girl. Humorous flax pulling songs make fun of idlers.

Hemp

Hemp

Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

 gathering songs closely resemble flax pulling songs.

Milling songs

Mill

Mill (grinding)

A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water...

ing songs are among the oldest work songs. The chronicler Alessandro Guagnini wrote of Lithuanian milling songs in the 16th century. The genre can be identified by characteristic refrains and vocables, such as zizui malui, or malu malu. They suggest the hum of the millstone

Millstone

Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...

s as well as the rhythm of the milling. Milling was done by women, and the lyrics are about women's life, as well as the work itself: about the millstones, the difficulty of the work, feelings of love and family relationships. Very often milling songs begin with the formula phrase, "Malu malu aš viena" (I mill, I mill all alone), followed by a text reminiscent of orphan

Orphan

An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...

s' songs. Milling songs have no traditional melodies, but they are characteristically slow, composed, the melodic rhythm varies little. They are closely related to their work function.

Spinning and weaving songs

Spinning

Spinning (textiles)

Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...

 and weaving

Weaving

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

 songs are the most important of the songs about work done in the home. The imagery of both is very similar and it is not always easy to distinguish one from the other. In spinning songs the main topic is the spinning itself, the spinner, and the spinning wheel

Spinning wheel

A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or synthetic fibers. Spinning wheels appeared in Asia, probably in the 11th century, and very gradually replaced hand spinning with spindle and distaff...

. In some there are humorous references to the tow or the lazy spinners who have not mastered the art of spinning and weaving by the time they are to be married. Some spinning songs are cheerful and humorous, while others resemble the milling songs which bemoan the woman's hard lot and longing for their homes and parents. These songs have characteristic melodies. There are also highly unique spinning sutartinės, typified by clear and strict rhythms. The texts describe the work process, while the refrains mimic the whirring of the spinning wheel.

The main imagery of weaving songs is the weaving process, the weaver, the loom, the delicate linens. Since the girls were usually weaving linens to fill their wedding trousseaux, the weaving process was highly poeticized.

Laundering songs

Songs which are sung while laundering

Laundry

Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...

 and bleaching are interesting and unique, but rather infrequent. The bleaching process receives more attention than the laundering. Sometimes the refrain imitates the sounds of the beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

 and mangle

Mangle (machine)

A mangle or wringer is a mechanical laundry aid consisting of two rollers in a sturdy frame, connected by cogs and, in its home version, powered by a hand crank or electrically...

 — the laundering tools. The songs often hyperbolyze

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....

 images of the mother-in-law's outlandish demands, such as using the sea instead of a beetle, and the sky in place of a mangle, and the treetops for drying. But the daughter-in-law protests, that she is not a fish who swims in the sea, a bird who flits among the trees, and she is not the moon, which whirls through the sky.

Fishing songs

Fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 songs are about the sea, the bay, the fisherman, his boat, the net, and they often mention seaside place names, such as Klaipėda

Klaipeda

Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....

 or Rusnė

Rusne

Rusnė is a town in Šilutė district, Lithuania, located on the Rusnė Island in the Nemunas Delta, 9 km south-west from Šilutė.Rusnė was first mentioned in historical sources in 14th century. In 1419 the first church was built in Rusnė, and in 1553 a Lithuanian parish school was established...

. Some songs depict the fishing process: "three fisherman are fishing in the Krokų Lanka

Kroku Lanka

Krokų Lanka is the only lake of marine origin in Lithuania and the largest lake in the Šilutė district municipality. It is located in the Nemunas Delta Regional Park on the Baltic Sea shore near Nemunas Delta and Ventė Cape. It covers a territory of 788 ha...

 floodplain

Floodplain

A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...

, catching bream, the bream spawn

Spawn (biology)

Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...

, and the zander

Zander

Zander is a species of fish. The scientific name is Sander lucioperca , and it is closely allied to perch. Zander are often called pike-perch as they resemble the pike with their elongated body and head, and the perch with their spiny dorsal fin. Zander are not, as is commonly believed, a pike and...

 are leaping." The emotions of young people in love are often portrayed in ways that are unique only to fishing songs. For example, as two brothers went fishing, the didn't catch a pike, but a young maiden. The monophonic melodies are typical of singing traditions of the seaside regions of Lithuania.

Hunting songs

There aren't many hunting songs and not much is known about their evolution or the time and place they were to be sung. Hunting motifs are very clearly expressed — one tells of a rabbit shot in the forest, in another it is urged that the greyhound

Greyhound

The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...

s be released to chase the rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

, deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

 or sable

Sable

The sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...

.

Berry picking and mushroom gathering songs

These are singular songs. Berry picking songs describe young girls picking berries, meeting boys and their conversations. Mushroom gathering songs can be humorous, making light of the process of gathering and cooking the mushrooms, describing the "war" of the mushrooms or their "weddings."

Notable researchers

• Liudvikas Rėza
• Jonas Basanavičius
  Jonas Basanavicius
  Jonas Basanavičius was an activist and proponent of Lithuania's National Revival and founder of the first Lithuanian language newspaper Aušra. He was one of the initiators and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 1905 Congress of Lithuanians, the Great Seimas of Vilnius...
  
  
• Mykolas Biržiška
  Mykolas Biržiška
  Mykolas Biržiška , a Lithuanian editor, historian, professor of literature, diplomat, and politician, was one of the twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania....
  
  
• Norbertas Vėlius
  Norbertas Velius
  Norbertas Vėlius was a Lithuanian folklorist specializing in the Lithuanian mythology.-Major works:*Mitinės lietuvių sakmių būtybės...