Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human history have been laments. Laments are present in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Lament elements figure in Beowulf, in the Hindu Vedas, and in ancient Near Eastern religious texts.
In many oral traditions, both early and modern, the lament has been a genre usually performed by women:
Lamenting the deceased relatives was a widespread tradition among Balts but this genre survived to these days in its original form only in South-Eastern corner of Lithuania & ethnic Lithuanian villages in Northern Belarus. Apart from funeral laments, there were also other types of it like: wedding, soldier recruiting, fire laments...
Vai aš išeisiu subatos vakarėlį
In rūtelių darželį
Vai aš paprašysiu savo žalios rūtelės
Kad joj išaugtų aukščiau uosio tvorelės
Aukščiau žalios eglelės
Vai aš paprašysiu savo brolalio
Kad jis nevestų savo šyvo žirgelio
In rūtelių darželį...
In English:
Oh, I will go out on saturday's evening
To my rue garden
Oh, I will ask my green rue
To grow taller than the ashen fence
Taller than the green spruce
Oh, I will ask my dear brother
Not to let his white horse
Into the garden of rues...
Iš režisieriaus V. Dabašinsko muzikinio filmo apie lietuvių liaudies apeigines dainas atliekamas senųjų kaimo dainininkų iš Dzūkijos ir Rytų Aukštaitijos.
