This Lithuanian folk song, recorded by the prominent 19th-century scholar Jonas Basanavičius from villagers in Dziegcioriai, represents a crucial moment in the preservation of Baltic oral traditions. The documentation of such cultural expressions occurred during a period when traditional rural practices were increasingly threatened by modernisation and political suppression, making Basanavičius's work not merely academic documentation but a deliberate act of cultural preservation with nationalist implications.

Folk songs held particular significance in Lithuanian cultural identity due to their role in maintaining linguistic and cultural distinctiveness during periods of political domination by various empires. The persistence of Lithuanian-language songs like Oi, kad aš gertau dieną, naktelę through generations of oral transmission demonstrates how cultural practices functioned as forms of passive resistance to assimilation, preserving distinctive elements of collective identity even under political pressure.

The archival preservation of both audio recording and visual documentation in the Lithuanian Folklore Archive transforms what was originally a living, performed tradition into a documented cultural artifact. This transition from participatory community practice to institutional preservation represents a fundamental shift in how such cultural expressions function and are transmitted, while simultaneously ensuring their survival beyond the communities that originally created them.

The contemporary accessibility of these materials through institutional resources reflects evolving attitudes toward folkloric heritage, which has been revalued in post-Soviet contexts as crucial evidence of national cultural distinctiveness. The preservation of such materials thus serves not just scholarly purposes but contributes to ongoing processes of national identity formation, demonstrating how historical cultural practices continue to inform contemporary understanding of Lithuanian distinctiveness within broader Baltic and European contexts.