VANESSA PALOMA ELBAZ, Morocco

Sephardic oral traditions in the Mediterranean Basin​

Women in the Mediterranean basin transmit knowledge and moral lessons through song and poetry. For generations, certain narratives continue to be passed down from mothers to daughters. It is through these narratives that core communal imperatives are engrained into the fabric of society’s beliefs. These sung poems functioned as the primary place of information transmission for thousands of years, while these Mediterranean societies were still primarily based on oral transmission. With the advent of literacy, writing, the enlightenment and modernity, many of these oral traditions have declined in use. However, the remaining traces of what was once a rich tradition, point to the kernels of belief that continue to be relevant even to this day.

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This presentation will focus on the feminine songs of one pan-Mediterranean group: The Sephardim, or the Jews exiled from Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Jews expelled from the Iberian peninsula in 1492 sing both songs that form part of the pan-Hispanic Romancero as well as newly composed songs highlighting specific communal experiences and history. They sing secular and religious songs as well as celebratory songs during the week-long wedding celebration. Using this group, I will show how in the Mediterranean, oral traditions have been used to transmit society’s most intimate and core imperatives.