Paradise  The Garden of Eden in the Dainas

"The myths of the Lithuanians and Latvians...remind one
of the belief systems of the ancient Hindus and Greeks."
Hans Rychener, in
...und Estland, Lettland, Litauen?
(Herbert Lang: Berlin, 1975, p. 24)

Robert Payne, in The Green Linden, Selected Lithuanian Folk-songs
(Voyages Press: N.Y. 1964) writes: The dainos...represent a form of
poetry as ancient as anything on this earth.... They have a beauty and
pure primitive splendor above anything I know in Western literature,
except the early songs of the Greek Islanders. They seem to have
been written at the morning of the world, and the dew is still on them."

Hermanis Rathfelders, in many writings in Acta Baltica, has written that the
Latvian DAINAS were quite ancient, preceding the milling of grain.

These DAINAS (more prevalent in Latvian than Lithuanian) were collected
over many years by Krisjanis Barons (Christian Baron) and successors.
The collected "Dainas" were then finally published in 12 volumes as
Latviesu Tautas Dziesmas (Chansons Populaires Lettonnes) ed. Svabe,
Straubergs and Hauzenberga-Sturma, Imanta Publishers, Copenhagen, 1952.

The problem is that these folksongs are in Latvian language
and have never been fully translated.
LexiLine will present some translations here.
Some Dainas are short, some long. Each has an assigned Number.
 

PARADISE and the LATVIAN "APINU DARZS" GARDEN OF APIN

The Sumerian (Akkadian, Babylonian) MUL.APIN cuneiform tablets
begin with the symbols for MUL and APIN, hence the name MUL.APIN
especially since GISH.APIN (wood APIN)
(thought to be "plow") is the first constellation listed.

In the Latvian "rotala games" (Dainas, Vol. 11, p. 546)
i.e. "rotational games" relating to the Sun, Moon [and Pleiades]
the participants stand in a line and

chase each other thrice around in a circle
[just as Narmer, king of Egypt],

The leader carryies a stick with a braided cloth end
or actual blossoms on a stick
and tries to catch up to the last person in the round

all the while singing a song
in which the sun BEGINS its journey
in the APINU darzs (garden of APIN, APINI)
meaning "hops" or "hop" blossoms)
The "hop" plant is Latin genus hu-MUL-us, humus
through satem/centum shift
from Latvian zemes, ze-mul-is.
Hence: The Latvian APINU darzs [Para-dise]
and Sumerian MUL.APIN = hu-MUL-us = MUL.MUL

There are many variants of this APIN game
and song dealing with the first blossoms of spring.
The game is also played as "Sietinos" or "Sietins"
which is also the Latvian term for the Pleiades.

Here is a typical APIN verse in the Latvian Dainas:
translation by LexiLine

Latvian Song English Translation Neguli, saulite Do not tarry, Sun Apinu darza In the garden of [MUL.]APIN Tur tevi ziedini Or the blossoms Apbierdinas Will cover you there.

The use of APIN for the "hop plant" surely precedes the plow
and shows how well the ancients observed nature. Humulus is
dioecious and well suited as the "flowering tree" in paradise
(male and female flowers are borne by different plants).

Humulus starts to grow in spring, twining clockwise,
reaching incredible heights of 20 to 30 feet,
(origin of the Jack and the Beanstalk myth ?)
but in autumn, drops fully to ground level. It is a
perfect plant to show the coming and going of fertility,
also in an astronomical context, i.e. "drawing the stars".

This APINU DARZS "Garden of Apin"
thus also may be connected by myth
 with the Garden of Eden and Paradise in Biblical accounts.

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