The Image of the Virgin Mary in Slovenian Legendary and Religious Folk Songs

Abstract

V razpravi, ki temelji na enakovredni uporabi metod folkloristike in literarne vede, se sprašujemo, kakšna je podoba Božje Matere Marije v slovenskih legendarnih in nabožnih pesmih. Na kratko predstavimo vire njene podobe (Sveto pismo, apokrifi, družbene razmere). Marijine lastnosti so obravnavane z vidika dveh razsežnosti njene osebnosti: njene človeškosti (Marija ima arhetipske ženske lastnosti, je človeška mati iz ljudskega okolja) in »nebeške« razsežnosti Božjega materinstva (moč odpuščanja, priprošnje, zavetništvo). Medbesedilna obravnava primerja slovenske legendarne in nabožne pesmi in izbrane avtorske pesmi z Marijinim motivom iz obdobja med obema svetovnima vojnama. Pri teh medbesedilnost ni eksplicitna, čeprav pesniki zajemajo iz ljudskega izročila.

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This paper considers the image of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in Slovenian legendary and religious folk songs through folklore and literature methodology. There is a short presentation of the sources of her image (the Bible, the Apocrypha, social circumstances). Mary’s characteristics are discussed from the two perspectives of her portrayal: her humanity (Mary has the archetypical characteristics of a woman; she is a human mother from everyday life) and her “divine” characteristics as the mother of God (power of forgiveness, intercession, and the role of patroness). The intertextual analysis discusses examples of Slovenian legendary and religious songs and selected poems with Marian motifs from the interwar period. The poems’ intertextuality is not explicit despite the fact that some of the poets use folk song elements.