Рэпрэзентацыя вобраза сястры мiласэрнасцi ў народнапесеннай творчасцi аб вайне
Levels of representation of the magic of the sister of mercy in folk songs about war

Summary/Abstract: Based on archival materials on Belarusian folklore of the Great Patriotic War and later periods, the article considers the original narrative-thematic lyric song series devoted to a sister of mercy. The series belongs to folk songs that were previously excluded from the research field. The article states that the character of the sister of mercy establishes itself in the late tradition, and there is no relevant analogy to it in classical folklore. The emergence of the character is determined by the 19th–20th century socio-historical realities, such as the work of the Red Cross communities. Prior to the crisis of World War I and revolutionary events, the semantics of the sister of mercy in public consciousness and cultural practice was defined by the moral ideas of Christian services and charity. This is reflected in the tradition of the soldier’s song. Subsequently, the character undergoes desacralization, the boundaries of its semantics evolve, which is confirmed by urban folklore of the 20th century. During the Great Patriotic War, the tradition of the soldier’s pre-revolutionary song, particularly the motive “sister of mercy comforts the soldier”, is increasingly acknowledged in the repertoire of partisans and broader population of Belarus. This is due to its substantive and formal-style characteristics.

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