ANGELS IN CYPRIOT RELIGIOUS FOLK SONGS. SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPICAL CHARACTERS IN THE WORLDVIEW OF POPULAR CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUSNESS IN CYPRUS

Abstract

MARTÍN VICO, Ana María. Angels in Cypriot Religious Folk Songs. Symbolic Archetypical Characters in the Worldview of Popular Christian Religiousness in Cyprus. Cypriot religious folk songs constitute a manifestation of Greek Cypriot Christian identity across time. Their lyrics reveal an intratextual context in which the universe’s order distinguishes between Earth, Heaven and Hell. In this worldview, angels are heavenly spiritual beings that present discernible biblical attributes and roles. Nevertheless, given the folk nature and popular religiousness of this lyrical poetry, these angels also differ from their canonical conception. Therefore, since different elements are provided, they are symbolic archetypical literary characters that Cypriot Greek people link to the biblical creation myth, Saint Mary and Jesus Christ’s Passion and Resurrection. In addition, the archangels Gabriel and Michael are especially significant, for they are both alluded to on several notable occasions. Other religious references demonstrate that the people who created the songs may have had knowledge of additional features related to angels.