Abstrakt
In Latvian and Lithuanian folklore, the singing tradition is of particular importance. There is no doubt that folksongs play an important role not only in poetic genres, but also in Baltic language culture in general.
The brevity of folk songs (in particular Latvian folksongs) can sometimes complicate the understanding of certain moments or symbols. Context is essential to know what certain words, images, motifs and formulas mean, and a group of folksongs can determine the meaning of this element.
One of the rather common motifs in white folksongs is the colour white. It is the focus of several different interpretations and can even be considered one of the most prominent colour motifs in the Baltic tradition.
Moreover, white occupies a special place in the Baltic burial tradition. According to G.
Beresnevičius, it serves as a sacred colour for both Lithuanians and Old Prussians, while R. Racėnaitė believes that white, rather than black, is most often associated with the personified guilt.
In Lithuanian lamentations, such formulas as white hands, white tables, white grapnel and white grains of sand, etc., recur, and it is interesting to try to reconstruct their meanings. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the meaning(s) of the colour white, to go beyond the linguistic level of this colour to give a general overview, and to further focus on the meaning and function of the colour white in Lithuanian and Latvian laments.