Орудия труда и их употребление в литовских сенокосных песнях и "сутартине"
ENLithuanian haymaking songs are spread in Western and Northern Lithuania - the ethnographic regions of Žemaitija and Aukštaitija. Border between the two main dialects of the Lithuanian language - žemaičiai (Samogitians) and aukštaičiai (Highlanders), according to the distribution of the melodies of haymaking songs, does not exist and this circumstance shows that this kind of Lithuanian musical folklore developed in very ancient times and is most probably related to the process of the formation of culture of the ancient Baits. These songs were performed exclusively by men, with one melody voice (soloist) and choir accompaniment. It has parallels with other žemaičiai and aukštaičiai songs of labour. Sutartinės are polyphonic songs which were spread in the northeastern Lithuania - in the peculiar part of the northeastern Aukštaitija. Distribution of sutartinės does not coincide with the local dialects of the eastern Aukštaičiai, and this kind of polyphonic music has no parallels in Lithuania or neighbouring countries. Sutartinės were sung by two, three, or four females, each performing in her own individual voice.In the text of haymaking songs and sutartinės, the following tools of haymaking appear: a steel scythe with a wooden handle, a whetstone, a wooden rake. These tools must always be in a good condition - a steel scythe must be hammered out and constantly whetted, wooden rakes - prepared for raking up. The users of these tools are young unmarried men and women who work in the fields and forests located far from the village. Haymaking is often marked by the beginning of the wedding cycle between the men and women. Forces of nature are usually favourable for the men singers in haymaking songs, while being hostile for female performers of sutartinės. Hence, it is suggested that haymaking songs can be the relic of the male cattle-breading culture, while sutartinės - that of the ancient agriculture cultivated by females.
