A Ligo Song
Genre:
Choral music
Instrumentation:
mixed choir
A summer solstice song in which ligo is the untranslatable refrain (1948).
_x000D_ The melody comes from Piebalga, in the District of Cesis, and was notated in 1918. The arr. was first published in Melbourne in 1956. The present publ. uses the ed. in the collection Janis Kalnins. Kora dziesmas a cappella [Unaccompanied Songs for Choir](R., 1997), p.144.
_x000D_ There are a huge number of texts (over 30,000 quatrains) for Latvian summer solstice songs, sometimes also called ligo songs or ligotnes. They represent a broad and multi-layered body of themes and concepts, with the cult of Janis, the fertility deity, as its basis. Apart from a few isolated examples, this tradition has no connection with St John the Baptist. In Latvian folk songs, Janis, or "John", is at the core of a broader and older cycle of myths, and his origin is rather to be derived from the Roman deity Janus.
_x000D_ The solstice songs collected in the 19th century were formed over a long period of time and united many ideas and concepts on various levels. On the mythological level Janis is a deity (also called one of the "sons of God"), to be found in traditionally sacred places – on a hilltop, on the top of the gatepost or in an oak tree. He also has features of a culture hero, and visits people (the januberni or "children of the midsummer festival, Jani") on Midsummer night, takes part in ritual activities as well as everyday tasks, ensures the fertility of fields and animals, and on this night of nights is subject to individual initiation (by immersion in water etc.). On the night of the solstice Janis loses, then regains his wife, which is also a part of initiation. Lastly, on an everyday level, Janis is personified in his representatives – the head or master of the farmstead (Janu tevs) and the mistress (Janu mate) – with the rest of the household and guests from neighbouring farmsteads making up the "children" (januberni). The diminutive form of his name (Janitis) is not just an endearment, as is usual, but also takes on a slightly pejorative tone. In such songs the relationship with Janis tends to become humorous or comic, and one hears echoes of social criticism against slovenly or careless workers. _x000D_ Midsummer night (the night of 23–24 June) is a time of tension between forces of nature, and also a night of love. On this night, plants possess magical powers of healing and promotion of fertility, dew is "golden" and brings blessings. Forces of evil, however, are also unleashed, and protection against them is needed. Country people themselves encourage the fruitfulness of their fields and stockyards by walking round them with songs, adorning them with flowers and greenery. The symbolic offerings at midsummer are cheese (a product of the animals) and ale (the fruitfulness of crops). Janis is also connected to the cult of the solstice, the sign of this connection being the Midsummer fire (januguns), either in the form of a fire-barrel raised high above the ground on the end of a pole, or as a bonfire on the ground. At sunrise on the 24th of June (Janu diena) Janis bids farewell to his people until the next summer solstice.
We prepare for the coming of Janis the whole year through, and tonight at last he has arrived (verse 1). The earth resounded as he rode, his spurs jangled as he dismounted (2). All year long I collected songs in readiness for Midsummer Day (3), and, now it has arrived, it’s time to sing them all (4). Walking with my brother, I tinkle and jingle in my finery (5): the ornaments and beads on my clothing tinkle, and so does my spangled coronet (6). On Midsummer Eve I made myself a garland of garden flowers (7) using roses, poppies and yellow marigolds (8). On Midsummer Day the sons of God (in Latvian folklore, Dieva deli [the sons of God] have nothing to do with Biblical traditions, but refer to the mythological cult of the heavenly twins, analogous to the Greek Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus) greet the Sun’s daughters (9). Midsummer Day is the most sacred day of the year (10).
_x000D_ The melody comes from Piebalga, in the District of Cesis, and was notated in 1918. The arr. was first published in Melbourne in 1956. The present publ. uses the ed. in the collection Janis Kalnins. Kora dziesmas a cappella [Unaccompanied Songs for Choir](R., 1997), p.144.
_x000D_ There are a huge number of texts (over 30,000 quatrains) for Latvian summer solstice songs, sometimes also called ligo songs or ligotnes. They represent a broad and multi-layered body of themes and concepts, with the cult of Janis, the fertility deity, as its basis. Apart from a few isolated examples, this tradition has no connection with St John the Baptist. In Latvian folk songs, Janis, or "John", is at the core of a broader and older cycle of myths, and his origin is rather to be derived from the Roman deity Janus.
_x000D_ The solstice songs collected in the 19th century were formed over a long period of time and united many ideas and concepts on various levels. On the mythological level Janis is a deity (also called one of the "sons of God"), to be found in traditionally sacred places – on a hilltop, on the top of the gatepost or in an oak tree. He also has features of a culture hero, and visits people (the januberni or "children of the midsummer festival, Jani") on Midsummer night, takes part in ritual activities as well as everyday tasks, ensures the fertility of fields and animals, and on this night of nights is subject to individual initiation (by immersion in water etc.). On the night of the solstice Janis loses, then regains his wife, which is also a part of initiation. Lastly, on an everyday level, Janis is personified in his representatives – the head or master of the farmstead (Janu tevs) and the mistress (Janu mate) – with the rest of the household and guests from neighbouring farmsteads making up the "children" (januberni). The diminutive form of his name (Janitis) is not just an endearment, as is usual, but also takes on a slightly pejorative tone. In such songs the relationship with Janis tends to become humorous or comic, and one hears echoes of social criticism against slovenly or careless workers. _x000D_ Midsummer night (the night of 23–24 June) is a time of tension between forces of nature, and also a night of love. On this night, plants possess magical powers of healing and promotion of fertility, dew is "golden" and brings blessings. Forces of evil, however, are also unleashed, and protection against them is needed. Country people themselves encourage the fruitfulness of their fields and stockyards by walking round them with songs, adorning them with flowers and greenery. The symbolic offerings at midsummer are cheese (a product of the animals) and ale (the fruitfulness of crops). Janis is also connected to the cult of the solstice, the sign of this connection being the Midsummer fire (januguns), either in the form of a fire-barrel raised high above the ground on the end of a pole, or as a bonfire on the ground. At sunrise on the 24th of June (Janu diena) Janis bids farewell to his people until the next summer solstice.
We prepare for the coming of Janis the whole year through, and tonight at last he has arrived (verse 1). The earth resounded as he rode, his spurs jangled as he dismounted (2). All year long I collected songs in readiness for Midsummer Day (3), and, now it has arrived, it’s time to sing them all (4). Walking with my brother, I tinkle and jingle in my finery (5): the ornaments and beads on my clothing tinkle, and so does my spangled coronet (6). On Midsummer Eve I made myself a garland of garden flowers (7) using roses, poppies and yellow marigolds (8). On Midsummer Day the sons of God (in Latvian folklore, Dieva deli [the sons of God] have nothing to do with Biblical traditions, but refer to the mythological cult of the heavenly twins, analogous to the Greek Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus) greet the Sun’s daughters (9). Midsummer Day is the most sacred day of the year (10).