Kompleksiteti i raportit motër-vëlla: një vështrim antropologjik mbi baladat shqiptare
The Complexity of the Sibling Relationship: An Anthropological Look at Albanian Ballads

Summary/Abstract: The relation between sister and brother in creative works is appeared since ancient beliefs and mythology. Marriage between sister and brother to ancient civilizations was considered perfect couple, thus implying the unification of the Sun with the Moon as a result of which flourished birth of creatures on earth. Pagan beliefs supported this relation until they were defeated by Christian epochs when it is thought that the sister-brother's couple may have become sacred to reach the pedestal of sanctification in monotheism, as it continues to be today. Ballads, which are also known as monuments of spiritual culture because they incorporate the essence of human spirit, preserve quite a bit of this legacy. By disassembling the ballads we can recognize many things about our cultural spirit. How does sister-brother relations appear in Albanian ballads? Where is the origin of the incest taboo among Albanians? What dimensions and layers can be detected by a ballad and what do they say about the complexity of the brother-sister relation on time?? Which explanation about this relation gives folklore today and which literature work can be understood by knowing the sublime love until the sacrifice of the Albanian sister for her brother? Issues like these will be treated in my paper, based on examples from Albanian ballads and folk songs, alongside anthropological theories built on family relationships, kinship, and cultural and religious influences in this relation.

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