CHRISTOPHE RICO UA&P Lectures 01 TRADITION

8/22/2019 CHRISTOPHE RICO UA&P Lectures 01 TRADITION

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Tradicin

Tradicin

The romance

de la mora

How a tradition

was born


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What is tradition

Before something is put in writing :

oral transmission period.

Example : Cautivaron a una mora

Spanish popular romance :

seven centuries of transmission

6 different ladino forms

(Sarajevo 1911, 1933 ; Saloniki ; Rhodos ; Tetuan ; Tangiers)Several different forms in Latin America

Many different forms in Spain


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Romance de la mora:

common elements I

1) Daughter of a king or a noble man

2) Kidnapped by the Muslims from the South of

Spain

3) She is sent to the river to wash the laundry

4) The brother of this girl passes by with his horse

and doesnt recognize her.

5) He finds her beautiful and invites her to go backto Spain with him


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Romance de la mora:

common elements II

6) The girl doesnt know what to do with the laundry

and the knight suggests to take with her the quality

laundry an to leave the rest in the water [exception:

Rhodes]7) They leave

8) They recognize each other (land, name of the

family members)

9) The brother tells his mother/ father :

Open the door, this is my sister.


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Ladinoversions

Santander Murcia Cuenca ArgentinaReason

forsendingher towash

Developped Shortened Absent Absent Absent

Oliva camposde oliva al pie deesta verde

oliva Juande

OlivaJuan deOliva Absent

Day of

kidnappingTetuan +

Tangiers :PascuaFlorida

Others :no mention

Pascua

FloridaSanta

Maraday

Absent Absent


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Oral transmission for more than seven

hundred years

1) The young christian captive is sent to wash in

order that she loses her beauty lest the muslim

prince, who is still young, should love her(six ladino versions and Santander)

2) Common theme of the ladino versions (save

Sarajevo 1933): the gaze of the knight on the hands

or legs of the young christian


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Origin and date

1) Most versions mention oliva / Oliva (place

origin of the young girl) which was under

christian sovereignty from the second half of

the 13th century

2) Common source of the ladino versions:

before 15th century

3) Common source of all recorded versions :

earlier (14th or 13th centuries)


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Progression of the Reconquista


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The memory of a people II

Importance ofmemory in an oral culture.Mnemotechnia : poetry, rythm, narrative structure

Cf. discourse of the Mount, in the Gospels

(deep rythm)

In the NT, some books were written without oral texttransmission (Acts, Epistles, Revelation)

Other books manifest an oral style (Gospels)

Importance of the oral word for the first Christiangenerations : Papias (v. 130), Saint Ireneus (2ndcentury, disciple of St Polycarpus)


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Historical framework of the books of Holy

Scripture

Bible text: long history (we do not say that the Bible

was dictated by God like the Coran)

Nehemiah 8,1 : after the Exile (587-538 BC)

the people remembers listening to the book ofthe Law of Moses that the Lord had given to Israel .

The book of Moses is the memory of Israel.

Scripture : book of the people of God, kept in theTemple.

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CHRISTOPHE RICO UA&P Lectures 01 TRADITION