Themes and Motifs of Lullabies in Bosniak Oral Tradition

Mr. Sci. Nirha Efendić,

Curator for Oral Poetry at Ethnology Department

National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Zmaja od Bosne 3, 71 000 Sarajevo

efendicnirha@yahoo.com

Lullabies as a type of lyrical song within

Bosniak oral poetry have been intensely recorded

since the second half of the 19th century.

However, there have been no serious theoretical

approaches to this type of lyrical song until

now. This paper offers an insight into history

of recordings of Bosniak lullabies in the oral

literature. In addition, the paper aims to

analyze poetical characteristics of Bosniak

lullabies based on selected examples from

manuscripts and collections which were composed

during the period of 120 years. The main

contribution of the paper is a systematic

analysis of themes and motifs of these lyrical

songs, which is something fully unexplored in

the oral poetry of Bosniak literature.

1. Recordings

Available sources confirm that Bosniak lullabies were first

recorded by Omer Effendi Humo from Konjic in the second half

of the 19th century, and then later published in his book

Suhla al-wusūl, the first printed Aljamiado book in Bosnia and

Herzegovina (Huković 1996). Certain songs which were

recorded in Humo’s collection were also used as lullabies,

although many researchers recognize them as a type of

religious song with primary purpose of glorifying the

greatness of the Creator.1

Great contributions to ethnomusicologic and folkloristic 

work related to Bosnia were made in the last decade of 19th

century by Ludvík Kuba and Antun Hangi. The lullabies which

found their way into collections of these two researchers,

although relatively modestly represented (only one recorded

in Hangi’s ethnological papers), contain a wider span of

motifs than the lullabies selected by Humo for his

collection. Kuba included only 13 lullabies in his very

comprehensive collection containing more than one thousand -

mainly lyrical - songs. This can be explained by the short

duration of his stay in Bosnia, his focus on the most

frequent type of lyrical songs – the love songs, and the

speed of his journey through Bosnia during which the

1 Ilahija – according to Škaljić, ilahija is a word of Arab origin describing a religious song (Škaljić 1966: 343).

collection was created. (Kuba 1984)2. The folkloristic 

collection of Antun Hangi published in his book Život i običaji

muslimana u Bosni i Hercegovini (Life and Customs of Muslims in

Bosnia and Herzegovina) focuses mainly on customs from

Cetral Bosnia and Krajina region, where he lived during his

long teaching career and where he conducted most of his

folkloristic  research besides his other work (Hangi 1990:

102).

A number of Bosniak lullabies can also be found in the

extensive manuscript collection by Smajl O. Bradarić,

religion teacher from Derventa who composed an extraordinary

collection of lyrical poems in the area of North-West Bosnia

in 1920s and 1930s. Bradarić’s collection contains nearly

one thousand units divided in five volumes. This valuable

collection is kept in the Folklore Archives of the National

Museum. Together with a significant number of lullabies

recorded on archive forms deposited in the Folklore Archives

of the National Museum, this collection represents a

valuable source for research of this lyrical form of oral

literature.

The manuscript collection of Muharem Kurtagić originates

from the same period. It consists of six volumes, and three

of them contain a large number of lyrical songs including

2 The mentioned songs can be found under following reference numbers: 472, 587, 600, 770, 798, 806 (2), 821, 822, 823, 909, 1052, 1061

valuable examples of Bosniak lullabies (vol. I, V and VI).

The songs were mainly collected from women in Krajina:

Kurtagić’s grandmother and her friends.

Author Alija Nametak had a stronger focus on Bosniak

lullabies in the early years of his folkloristic research.

In early 1930s, he published his paper entitled Mostarske

muslimanke uspavanke (Muslim Lullabies from Mostar) in the

Zbornik za narodni život i običaje Južnih Slavena (Almanac for Folk Life

and Customs of South Slavs). The paper consists of eleven

songs with a short introduction (Nametak 1932). Nametak

extended this string of Bosniak lullabies in his collection

entitled Od bešike do motike (From Cradle to Pick), where the

title itself atributes the character of inception to this

type of song. All of Nametak’s lullabies originate in

Herzegovina, and were mainly recorded in his hometown of

Mostar, as well as Hlivno and Duvno. After each lullaby, he

provided name of the singer, and sometimes also location

where the songs were recorded. (Nametak 1970).

Notable contribution to recordings of Bosniak lullabies was

also made through enthnomusicologic work of Vlado Milošević,

especially in the North-West Bosnia region. In one of his

four books, he presents as many as 550 different songs under

the collective title Bosanske narodne pjesme (Bosnian Folk

Songs). Among them are 17 lullabies, along with music

notation of their melodies (Milošević 1964).3

2. Theoretical Definitions

The first lexicographic and theoretic studies on lullabies

as lyrical form in Štokavian dialect region were published

in 1984. Nada Milošević-Đorđević wrote about lullabies in

the lexicon Narodna književnost (Folk Literature) (Pešić,

Milošević-Đorđević 1984). A theoretically more complete

lexicographic review of this form was published in the Rečnik

književnih termina (Dictionary of Literature Terms) in the entry

entitled Uspavanka (Lullaby), written by Hatidža Krnjević.

The lullaby is here described in following words: “Ancient

song of lyrical character known in the world oral (→ ritual

songs) and written literature…Lullaby preserves the archaic

belief in power of magic of words. Dedicated to the child,

it contains wishes for good health and happy future, and it

is drenched by faith in beneficial and unaided effects of

words. The poetic strength of the lullaby lies in its

lyrical directness, as well as warmth and picturesqueness of

the expression. “(Krnjević 1984: 907).

3 Lullabies were published in the volume IV of the book of Bosanske narodne pjesme under following reference numbers: 32 (111), 33 (113), 34 (188), 35 (166), 36 (10), 37 (5), 38 (93), 39 (481), 40 (114), 41 (518),42 (42), 43 (297), 44 (296), 45 (388), 46 (223), 47 (389) and 48 (24).

When it comes to work in Bosnia and Herzegovina, lullabies

were recently included in a summarized manner – as one of

the forms of lyrical song in oral literature – by Munib

Maglajlić in a review of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s lyrical

poetry dated 1992 (Maglajlić 1992). In 1997, Jasmina

Musabegović compiled and published the first anthology of

this type of Bosniak songs under the title Bošnjačke uspavanke

(Bosniak Lullabies), where the author presents 22 songs

after a brief introduction entitled Zašto uspavanke? (Why

Lullabies?). Along with each song, the author provides the

musical notation of melody and information about location

where each song was recorded. An audio tape was published

along with the book, with recordings of the lullabies

included in the collection sung by Lejla Jusić and Alma

Aletić who were students of Sarajevo Music Academy at the

time. A note in the book explains that the lullabies

included in the book come mainly from the collection of

Cvjetko Rihtman, which is the most extensive collection of

lullabies from Bosnia and Herzegovina in general. Namely,

cooperating with Ljubo Simić and Miroslava Fulanović-Šošić,

Cvjetko Rihtman published in 1974 collection of 316

lullabies from different regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina,

recording sources of the songs along with musical notation

(Rihtman 1973).

Another contribution to lullaby studies in Bosnia and

Herzegovina was made in 2005 by Jasmina Talam who published

the essay entitled Uspavanke u narodnoj muzičkoj tradiciji Zenice i

okoline (Lullabies in Folk Music Tradition of Zenica and

Surrounding Areas). She divided the songs in three groups:

(1) “lullabies with very similar content and presentation”,

(2) ''lullabies whose lyrics were improvised by mothers

based on an existing melody pattern” '' and (3) ''ilahija

songs serving as lullabies “ (Talam 2005: 342).

One of the most recent contributions to the studies on this

oral literal lyrical form was offered by the author of this

paper in 2007 in form of an anthology accompanied by a brief

study based on historical and theoretical review of Bosniak

lullabies. (Efendić 2007)

Finally, in the text entitled “ Poetika bošnjačkih narodnih

uspavanki” (Poetics of Bosniak Folk Lullabies), Remzija

Hadžiefendić-Parić examined the repertoire of expressions

which are characteristic for this lyrical form, as well as a

series of its poetic attributes. This text observes

lullabies from the point of view of modern literal-

theoretical interpretations, where lullabies are seen by the

author as female speech and female writing. (Hadžiefendić-

Parić 2007).

3. Themes, Motifs and Distribution

When we look at contents of most recorded lullabies, it is

possible to establish several characteristics: (1) word is

in possession of the mother4; (2) mother addresses almost

exclusively a male child; (3) motifs are mainly linked

either to old pagan deities (white fairy, sun, moon…) or to

terms stemming from the Islamic concept of life (This and The

Other World, Prophet, gardens of Paradise..), or we see pagan and

Islamic motifs intertwined, but as a rule, they contain a

note of magic, otherworldly; (4) there is a difference in

motifs of lullabies recorded in urban and rural areas.

Speaking about the traditional meaning of the lullaby and

its cantabile properties, R. Hadžiefendić-Parić underlines

several linguistic characteristics of this song: “Namely,

the early phase of human life /.../ is marked by a special

kind of speaking act in which, as one lullaby describes it,

the mother/talks/to the son. It is custom that the child is put to

sleep in the intimacy of devout silence by singing/reciting of

verses in slow rhythm and special intonation, melody and

tone, and often even in special timbre… Thus, as an ancient

lyrical song5, the lullaby stands in the beginning of human

life (in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, the word uspavanka4 See mentioned work of R. Hadžiefendić-Parić in Almanac of Papers by Islamic Pedagogic Faculty of Bihać, No. I, 2007. (187-216)5 Studies established that poetic expression prevails up to 40%inchildren between the age of four and ten, compare with: I. Škarić,“Nastanak dječjeg govora” (Origins of Child’s Speech), Institute forPhonetics, Zagreb, 1974.

derives from the act, i.e. verb uspavati (put to sleep), similar to

English lullaby, from verb to lull; Russian kolybelnie pesni derives

from the object, i.e. from kolybel 'cradle', similar to

Czech ukolebavka from word kolebka ‘cradle’)“ (Hadžiefendić-

Parić 2007: 197). Basing on the content and motif repertoire

of Bosniak lullabies, it is possible to establish, as we

already noted, not only the source of the song (the location

where it was cherished and probably recorded), but also the

approximate time when the song was composed. In other words,

certain motifs directly indicate a certain age for a great

number of songs of this kind.

3. a. Lullabies With Motifs Originating From Pagan Beliefs,

Urban and Rural

Earlier theoretic descriptions of lullabies already

emphasized that this oral literal form contains a note of

magical, otherworldly (Krnjević 1984), and in terms of

certain motifs (great water, fairy, mountain...) lullabies are most

similar to fairy tales and fables. These forms make the most

suitable framework for authors to successfully express their

hidden thoughts and thus reveal their own desires, hopes,

dreams and secret contemplations, and by putting them in the

realm of supernatural, to show their eternal verity and

their indigenous natural dimension. In lullabies, regardless

if they are recorded in a village or a town, the mother,

through very direct lyrical expression, calls for good

fortune of her child, as well as peaceful sleep which does

not end merely in the cradle, but also at a symbolic level,

in the child’s future life – the mother attempts to keep

forever her eternal child from all possible evils: Slumber

plays with you but happiness does not / Slumber be in your cradle, and

sleeplessness out / May water take away your sleeplessness / Up to back of giant

highlands.6 Besides wishes for good fortune, the wish to

remove spells also represents a frequent motif7, as well as

prayers to protect the child from hostile hand and evil

intentions of different enemies. The mother wishes to cast

away bad fortune which she mainly sees in spells and

intrigues of envious people: May your foes in cold mountains be, /

Grazing grass, drinking water from the leaves, / Resting their head on cold stone,

/ Making no harm to you, sonny boy.8 The decorated cradle is

supposed to remove spells from the child. The cradle is

usually made by industrious craftsmen on the sea, out of

boxwood and selected ornaments with which they embellish the

cradle: Your cradle was made on sea, / Out of nice boxwood, / Of nice wood

6 Spavaj, sine, rasti spavajući, Bošnjačke uspavanke (1997), Author of the project and editor (in further text: Musabegović), Sarajevo: Preporod, pg. 34. The lullaby was recorded in Mostar.7 Urok – according to Halilović (Rječnik bosanskoga jezika – Dictionary of Bosnian Language/ Senahid Halilović, Ismail Palić and Amela Šehović / 2010, Sarajevo: Philosophy Faculty of Sarajevo), means “evil eye or spell which, according to folk tradition, can cause harm, damage, evil, disease, etc.”8 San u bešu, nesan mimo bešu, (1990), Antun Hangi, Život i običaji Muslimana u Bosni iHercegovini. Third edition, Sarajevo: Svjetlost, pg. 102.

and carnation, / Three handy craftsmen made it: / One was trimming, the second

painting, / And the third one put a shiny mirror...9 Besides the

intention to defy evil spells, the motif of decorated cradle

sometimes has a different reason – a jewel is supposed to

shine light on the pillow and bedding, thus helping the

mother to lift up and feed the child easier during the

night: They were cutting boxwood, and engraving gold, / And above your

head they put all precious stones, / So the mother could nurse you, / In the

midnight as in the noon.10 Motifs of red roses are also present in

many examples. One song recorded in Mostar has motifs from

pagan beliefs intertwining with certain acts that belong to

the Islamic practice, so in this song, The white fairy wrapped in

swaddles the newborn baby (fairies represent the leading

pagan deities), and A swallow recited Adhan.11(Adhan represents

the call to prayer, and Islamic customs require reciting of

Adhan into the right ear of the newborn during the name-

giving ceremony). However, customs did not always

necessarily have the decisive impact on motifs; most often

these songs skillfully expressed the wish to raise an honest

human being. In one case, the motifs of rose, fairy and bee

acquire the meaning of exemplar in an excellent gradation:

For roses and its leaves, / May he be as red as rose, / For the fairy who wrapped

9 Ninaj, sine, u varakli beši, Kuba, pg. 128, No. 472.10 Nini, sine, puna mi te beša, Cvjetko Rihtman, Dječije pjesme (1974), Zbornik napjeva narodnih pjesama Bosne i Hercegovine (in further text: Rihtman),Sarajevo: ANUBiH. pg. 161, No. 71. Orašje.11 Majka Smaju pod đulom rodila, Musabegović, pg. 12, Mostar.

him in silk, /May he be swift as she is, / For the bee that nursed him by honey, /

May he be even sweeter than honey...12

Lullabies recorded in rural areas contain motifs of

mountain, green grass and unusual mythical creatures –

fairies, who use their magic to help the child be born

healthy, take taken good care it, and finally make sure that

all birth-related customs are properly conducted: The

mountain welcomed him by leaves, / A white fairy was his midwife...13 After

giving birth, a woman is usually very exhausted and she

needs additional strength to nurse the newborn with her

milk. Therefore, in the next verses of this same lullaby, we

read the following: A dove visited him, / and brought him pie and

bread, / Sweet pie and savory bread, / so that baby’s mother could eat, / so that

baby could get more milk.

In lullabies, we frequently encounter the motif of wrapping

the baby in diapers made of white silk. Wrapping the baby in

white silk emphasizes the importance of the arrival of new

life into This World. On the other hand, white generally

symbolizes innocence and purity. Therefore, silk was

carefully saved for occasions in which its elegance would

emphasize what the woman herself believed was of great

importance. In lullabies, the silk is intended for the

newborn. While the mother puts the child to sleep, she

12 Majka sina u ruži rodila, Nametak, pg. 10, Mostar, sung by Fatima Nametak.13 Majka sina u gori rodila, Rihtman, pg. 142, No. 3, Livno.

addresses the child with most carefully chosen words and

compares it with the most gentle figures that surround her.

Therefore, her baby falls asleep like a lamb in the grass,

while comfortable and soft leaves of shamrock provide

shelter, and face and head are covered by a silken scarf:

The baby is covered by shamrock grass, / And its head with a silken scarf.14

The motif of abundant water which washes away all the bad –

sleeplessness and evil spells – is also frequent: May water

take away your sleeplessness, / Up to back of giant highlands.15 When we take

a look at Bosniak lullabies in general, the cradle made on

the sea seems to be one of the leading motifs. The sea

symbolizes abundance of water, and according to traditional

belief, water removes spells, evil fate. Spells imperatively

need to be removed somehow, which is why the cradle is

decorated in different ways. It can be decorated with

tinsel, beads, mirrors, pearls, jewels, golden apple, etc:

Your cradle was made on the sea, / Four goldsmiths were making it, / Some were

hammering, / some were gilding, / Some were putting rattles in, / And the last

ones put the bough of pearl. 16

The mother often expresses the hope that her child with get

strong soon and grow up: Sleep my son, you have filled your cradle, / May

you fill it even more by morning!17 Mother’s efforts to raise a14 Nina, nina, moje janje malo, ibid, pg. 154. No. 40 a. Homolj near Kiseljak.15 Spavaj, sine, rasti spavajući, Musabegović, pg. 34. Mostar.16 Allah, Allah, la ilahe illalah, Rihtman, pg. 161. No. 70. Orašje.17 Spavaj, Kemo, tebe majka ljulja, ibid, pg. 144, No. 11 a. Vjetrenik.

healthy and diligent child generally reach beyond the

cradle: in lyrics of one lullaby, the mother has already

imagined the order in which the child will acquire different

values according to her idea of good upbringing in the

following years. Therefore, she enthusiastically tells him

her hopes: Sleep in cradle until next year, / Until the age of three, sleep

embraced by me, / When four to maktab you go, / And by five reading of Qur’an

you complete! 18

Lullabies recorded in urban areas possess somewhat different

motifs, so the symbols of rose, silk swaddles, and cradle

made and purchased in a big city are more frequent in

lullabies which are typical for urban areas. On the other

hand, the motifs of mountains, green grass and white fairy

become specific for lullabies recorded in rural areas. The

motif of sewing a shirt is also very frequent in lullabies

recorded in towns. In one example, while the mother is

sewing a shirt out of fine cotton cloth hoping that the

child will live long, the baby sleeps carefree in her lap.

The curious mother wishes to know about the dreams of her

child, so she addresses him in decasyllabic verses: Did you

see your mother in dreams, / How she is sewing fine shirts for you, / Sewing

shirts and counting years: / May the number of your years / Exceed the number

of strings in your shirts!19

18 Nini, sine, san te prevario, Rihtman, pg.157, No. 51. Orašje.19 Nina, buba, rodila te majka, Rihtman, pg. 160, No. 64. Donji Vakuf.

According to the division made by Jasmina Talam, we can spot

some new motifs in the second group of lullabies, as well as

a certain difficulty to record these songs. Namely, “besides

expressing the motherly love and tenderness, the mother

improvised additional lyrics in which she described all

problems she could not tell anyone. These lyrics were mainly

improvised to the existing melodic pattern. We could say

that this type of lullabies represented an intimate

monologue of the woman, and were therefore very difficult to

record. This type of lullabies has the longest text'' (Talam

2005: 342). A convincing example of lullaby which fits the

description provided by Talam was recorded in the area of

Bosanska Krajina and it consists of as many as 42 verses.

Since this represents a lyrical song without narration,

(regardless of the number of verses) we see a line of motifs

of wishes for good fortune, embellished cradles, good

fairies, bees which feed honey to the child, red roses.

Finally, at the end of the song, besides many other wishes,

the singer expresses the wish for her child to grow old

enough to be a soldier. In the beginning of the lullaby, the

mother speaks about the child in third person, but at the

end, when she sees him as a grown man, she starts to address

him with advices usually given to mature persons, and she

expresses them in following decasyllabic verses: You my son

belong to a good tribe, / Obey well the good emperor, / Do not bring shame

upon your parent, / And you shell always be well, / You will become Vizier of the

good emperor20. In another lullaby with significantly fewer

verses which contain the usual dreams of the mother, she

also expresses some unusual wishes for a balanced progress

of her child, so that he raises from one level of well-being

to the next – higher and more distinguished. The mother

wrapped her child in diapers three times a day, and the oral

poet describes the order based on mother’s wishes, where the

given order symbolically indicates her aspirations for her

child to progress in life in the same way: The first time she

wrapped him in cotton, / The second time in white silk, / And the third time in

pure gold…21 If the women was born in a wealthy family and she

married into a poorer one, she inevitably faced different

hardships which hindered her adaptation to new, strange

circumstances and proper understanding for her new

relatives. Therefore the mother, faced with such problems,

in moments of intimacy and as long as she is sure that

nobody can hear her, often expresses the wish for her child

to adopt habits and practices of her home, because she

believes that they are better and more progressive: Sleep son,

grow while you sleep, / Looking at your great tribe, / Your auntie, your mother’s

sister, / Your uncles, brothers of your mother...22 Such long “intimate

monologues” of the woman are usually product of the moment

and they resemble a personal confession more than a usual

lullaby text.

20 Lila majka nejaka Ahmeta, Kurtagić, Vol. VI, No. 64.21 Majka Midhu u želji rodila, ibid, No. 65.22 Spavaj sine u varakli beši, Kurtagić, Vol. VI. No. 66.

3.b. Lullabies with Religious Content, Variational

Progression

We already mentioned that in customary practice of Bosniaks,

religious songs were used as lullabies. These songs are

called ilahija because their themes primarily glorify the

Creator, although there is also the opinion that they are

called this because of the most frequent chorus which is

sung in Arabic - Lā illāha illā Allāh, and its meaning represents

testimony of oneness of the Creator.

When it comes to lullabies with religiously focused content,

the motifs are somewhat more diverse. In such lullabies, the

mother addresses primarily the Almighty, praying for her

child to be healthy, long-living, but also religiously well-

educated: Rabbum Allah, bless me, please / Let my Ali long live, /Let him

learn, let him pray / And let him complete maktab23 safe...24 The mother

wishes her child to adopt religious obligations and to

acquire the habit of going to maktab and later to mosque.

Still, one of the most frequent motifs in this type of

lullabies is the motif of shahada (testimonial) which we

already mentioned. Since shahada usually comes in form of

chorus, this fact enabled – in some examples – the singer to

extend the content of the lullaby with a new verse after a

23 Islamic primary school. 24 Rabbum Allah, Ti mi daj, Nametak, pg. 10-11. Sung by Fatima Nametak.

brief pause or singing of this chorus, thus creating ilahija

lullabies which could contain up to 40 verses or even more.

Every time new motifs would develop upon the basic thematic

pattern, which is most obviously present in lullabies about

encounter with the Messenger of God.25

When it comes to the group of songs about encounter with the

Messenger of God, the thematic backbone is following: On her

way to the mosque, the mother meets the Prophet; she greets

him with salam, and he points out to the withering blossoms

and their short life, comparing it with the worldly

transience; he reminds her of death and the arrival of two

angels who will question the believers about their work and

beliefs in earthly life; the mother imagines how she will

ask for a window in her grave, and then suddenly through

this window she sees the glorious splendor of Paradise, and

she starts describing the rewards awaiting true believers.

Variations of this favorite lullaby with religious content

mainly start branching out in the part about singer’s

encounter with beauties of Paradise. This means that each

mother created new images arising in her own imagination and

in line with her own concept of promised reward. Alija

Nametak only presented four versions of this song which he25 This folk lullabies has many variations in almost all parts of Bosniaand even abroad. In this paper, we present several versions which will represent the work of the oral poets and their imagination in this piece.

recorded from four different singers for his already

mentioned collection Od bešike do motike.

The first of the four vesions recorded by Nametak in his

collection contains 15 verses and starts with the following

octosyllable verses: When I was on the way to the mosque/I was met by

our Prophet,/Our Prophet, our Mohammed, / As he met me, he told me: / You

know that you must die/Lay down in the grave…26 The singer goes on to

describe the narrowness of the grave until in the decisive

moment a window opens to the gardens of Paradise: A window

opened, / I saw a beautiful garden, / In this garden two rams for sacrifice, / Their

horns are made of crystal, / Their fleece made of ruby, / Their legs are delicate.

The quoted fragments belong to the shortest version recoded

by Nametak, which ends with the glorious description of

sacrifice animals seen in the middle of the Paradise garden.

The second version includes all 18 verses sung in the same

meter like all other versions, symmetric octosyllable

verses. However, this version begins with the usual

onomatopoeia which is characteristic for lullabies without

religious content - – Nini, bubi, mother birthed you27 – then

continues with the chorus Lā illāha illā Allāh and the verse When I

went to mosque.. This example provides another image of

Paradise, described in the following verses: God gave me a

26 Kad ja pođo' u džamiju, Nametak, pg.18. Sung by Mejra Islamović from Čelić.The chorus Lā illāha illā Allāh is sung after each verse. 27 Nini, bubi, rodila te majka, ibid, pg. 19. Munira Kikić from Gradačac.

window, / So I could look around Paradise, / In Paradise, in this realm, / Little

children from maktab, / Little books under their arms, / Jugs in their hands, /

They bring water to their mothers, / Their mothers and their grandmothers...

Here, the mother emphasizes the obedience of children

towards their parents, as well as fulfilling of religious

duties as features that deserve the greatest rewards.

Therefore she includes in her usual repertoire of listing

rewards for good deed also the content which will remind her

children of their obligations towards faith and parents at

the same time.

The third version from Alija Nametak’s notebook possesses

the most developed plot and it contains as many as 44

verses. This version, among other images, has poetically the

most successful description of the three sacrifice rams seen

by the singer in the gardens of Paradise: Their teeth are made of

pearls,/ Their horns are made of coral,/Their legs are made of ruby,/ Their hoofs

are made of mother of pearls,/ Their fleece is white silk…28 It becomes clear

why the woman attributed such magnificent appearance to the

ram which is synonym for sacrifice when we take into

consideration that patience during hardships is one of the

greatest acts of faith. Although the mother could not

possibly wish for her child frequent ordeals which require

calm and persistence, she knew that life in its complexity

inevitably brings such hardships. Since it is so, then the

28 Kad ja pođe’ u džamiju, ibid, pg. 20-21. Sung by Sabiha Dulaš from Duvno.

mother probably wanted to convey to her child that patience

is remedy for hardship, and God’s blessing is reward for

patience.

Nametak’s final version from the group of lullabies about

encounter with Messenger of God contains 31 verses in

symmetric octosyllable meter. Imagination of the singer who

sung this version extended the image of Paradase compared to

other versions with the following image: There is a spring in

Paradise,/There sit three groups,/First group are all martyrs,/Second group all

heroes,/ Third group all little children,/ Little children from maktab...29 In this

example, the mother connected the rewards of Paradise with

the chosen ones, probably wishing to see her dearest child

among them, so she tried to describe the promised reward for

religious practice and obedience to religious rules.

The first one out of two versions of the same lullaby which

were recorded by Smajl O. Bradić in Derventa consists of 31

verses, and instead of the encounter with the Prophet, the

singer has an encounter with Ali (Prophet Mohammed’s nephew

and companion) who also talks to her about short life of

flowers. The singer is then confronted with secrets of

Paradise, similar to the previous versions. However, the new

addition here is the mentioning of Zamzam Well which will

enable the rewarded persons to bring water to their parent,

29 Kad ja pođo' u džamiju, ibid, pg. 21-22. Sung by Bega Dilaver from MandinoSelo.

as described in following verses: I filled up a judge with water,/ And

I walked around Paradise,/ Looking for father, looking for mother,/ I found my

father,/ And my dear mother too,/ I gave water to the father with my right

hand, / And I hugged mother with my left arm.30

The second version from Bradarić’s collection includes 38

verses and it begins with the usual motif of encounter with

Prophet on the way to mosque. The difference between this

and the previous version is that instead of one window in

the grave, the singer sees three windows and she is

therefore able to describe three different aspects of the

beauties of Paradise. She puts “maktab field” in the first

aspect, with joyful little children walking around with

their books under their arms and little jugs in their hands.

The outlook from the second window is marked by encounter

with a student who sits in the shadow of an almond tree and

sews white robes for the newly arrived inhabitants of

Paradise. Behind the third window, there is the image of a

garden with three sacrifice rams gazing, with miraculous

fleece, horns and hooves, which is a similar description to

the ones provided in other versions. However, in this

version of the ilahija lullaby there is also a shepherdess

who is described in the final verses of this version: Three

30 Kad ja pojdo u džamiju, Smajl O. Bradarić, Ms 38 – Narodne umotvorine (iz Dervente i okolice većinom) – FAZM, Rukopisna zbirka Odjeljenja za Etnologiju,sv. I (I-V) pjesma br. 183.

sacrifice rams are grazing there,/ Herded by shepherdess,/ She wears a fine shirt,

/ Neither spun nor woven, /But knitted out of gold.31

Finally, a version of the ilahija song about the encounter

with the Prophet can also be found in the great collection

of Cvjetko Rihtman, and it is included in the group of so-

called “lailahija” lullabies. It represents one of the

poetically more successful versions and it consists of 44

verses.32 In this version, the singer sees three fantastic

scenes in Paradise through one window. Besides the sacrifice

rams, according to Rihtman’s singer, there is also the

Kawthar (“Ćesar”) spring which flows under the “Taban” tree,

and around the spring there are groups of chosen inhabitants

including little children from maktab. The singer describes

her vision of children who go to maktab in following verses:

They each hold a jug, /They fill it with sweet water, /Then they wait for their

mothers, /Their mothers and their fathers…33 The frequent image of

children from maktab among the inhabitants of Paradise

probabyl originates from the idea that parents have managed

to successfully raise their children only if they are

persitent in efforts to show them religious values and

obligations and incorporate them in their life. Therefore,

in the final verses of this version, we read the following

31 Kad ja pojdo u džamiju, Isto sv. V, br. 332.32 Rihtman je ovu skupinu imenovao „lailahijama“ vjerovatno prema prvim riječima pripjeva Lā illāha illā Allāh.33 Kad ja pođem u džamiju, Rihtman, pg. 163-164, No. 80. FAZM – 6599, Bistrica.

idea: Blessed be the one who is rich, /Who is rich and who spends, /He has a

place in the Other World.

All quoted excerpts from different versions of songs about

encounter with the Prophet or another person from the circle

of the chose ones in the spiritual history of Islam, such as

in example of Bradarić’s first version, were recorded from

Bosniak women from Bosnia and Herzegovina and they belong to

the group of religious songs as much as they belong to the

group of lullabies. However, it is also fact that not all

religious songs – ilahijas- appeared in role of lullabies,

although they provided a very useful content for mothers who

strive to hand down religious teachings to their children

from the very early age on. The reminder of rewards in the

afterlife for respectable life in This World is a frequent

motif in lullabies with religious content.34 It is however

difficult to find a lullaby that reminds of punishment in

the afterlife for sins committed in this life, although

religious teachings speak about this topic as much as any

other. Mother deliberately chooses the most gentle approach

to raising her child. She puts her child to sleep trying to

send him to the realm of dreams with the most beautiful

34 When it comes to songs with religious content in Bosniak oral tradition, there is a famous ilahija song about the Houri (female dweller of Paradise) Razija who finds the mother at the bottom of Hell because of sins she committed in This World. Different versions of this spiritual song offer different descriptions of punishment in the afterlife, but singers never called it a lullaby.

pictures she could imagine and which she tried to describe

to the best of her abilities.

When it comes to verse forms in Bosniak lullabies, we can

say that the verse is not so diverse as in other, more

developed lyrical oral forms – wedding, family or love

songs. The most frequent form of verse in this lyrical type

– like in South Slavic poetry in general – is the epic

decasyllabic meter, which we find, among others, also in the

following example: Sleep son, your cradle is of rose.35 Octosyllable

meter is much rarer in lullabies, and its is mostly found in

examples of ilahija lullabies: Little children from maktab.36

Heptameter is the rarest verse form found among this type of

lyrical songs, and we find it in the example: Rabbum Allah,

grant me...37

Summary

Generally speaking, we can trace lullabies as oral lyrical

literature among Bosniaks in two forms – lullabies with

folklore content on one hand, and on the other hand

lullabies with religious focus, i.e. ilahija songs serving

the purpose of lullabies. The prevailing sentiment of35 Spavaj, sine, od đula ti beša, Nametak, pg. 8, Mostar, sung by Fatima Nametak.36 Kad ja pođo' u džamiju, ibid, pg. 21-22. Sung by Bega Dilaver from MandinoSelo. 37 Rabbum Allah, Ti mi daj, ibid, pg. 9, Mostar, sung by Fatima Nametak.

wishing for the child to adopt moral values while growing up

is present in both forms, certain motifs are also repeated,

but the most significant feature setting ilahija songs apart

from other lullabies is the emphasis on Creator who is asked

for happiness and fulfillment of wishes. The lyrical subject

here is strongly characterized by devotion to religious

teachings. Furthermore, ilahija songs are usually extended

by frequent choruses which come in form of shahada, and they

contain more verses than any other lyrical form in general.

Therefore, ilahija lullabies often possess certain narrative

core, which rarely happens with other lyrical forms. Based

on this fact, it is possible to establish a narrative

pattern which enables consideration of versional progression

of a certain ilahija lullaby.

Ilahija lullabies usually have the intonation of minor

scale, and some examples deal with the topic of death, so

therefore they are similar to ballads. Lullabies with

folklore content are short songs, usually not exceeding 15

verses, and besides frequent addressing the child, motifs

are often related to certain pagan beliefs, such as fairies

and celestial bodies which acquire anthropomorphic features.

All stated facts indicate the great possibility that ilahija

lullabies are of more recent origin than the lullabies which

do not have a religious (Islamic) context.

Sources

a. Manuscripts

FAZM, Manuscript collection of Ethnology Department of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina::

1. Ms 19 – Narodne pjesme, lirske Čišić, Husaga2. Ms 37 – Sarajke, muslimanske ženske pjesme – Bajraktarević,

Senija3. Ms 38 – Narodne umotvorine iz Dervente i okolice većinom. Sv. I-V

– Bradarić, Smajl O.4. Ms 45 – Muslimanske narodne pjesme (ženske). Sv. I, V i VI –

Kurtagić, Muharem5. Ms 58 – Sarajevske narodne pjesme – Hadžijahić, Muhamed6. Ms 102 – Narodne pjesme iz Bosne– Kukić, Stevo K.

Manuscript collection of Ivan Zovko, Tisuću narodnih ženskih pjesama 1893. M. H. 24.

b. Published Works

Kuba, Ludvík (1984), Pjesme i napjevi iz Bosne i Hercegovine, prir. C. Rihtman, Lj. Simić, M. Fulanović-Šošić, Dunja Rihtman-Šotrić, ANUBiH,Sarajevo.Mirković, Petar (1886), Srpske narodne pjesme iz Bosne, Pančevo: Štamparijabraće JovanovićaS. Karadžić, Vuk. (1824), Srpske narodne pesme I. Beograd.Bošnjačke uspavanke /priredila Jasmina Musabegović, Preporod, Sarajevo, 1997.Kadić, Rešad, Pobožne pjesme bosanskohercegovačkih muslimana. – In book:Mulahalilović, Enver, Vjerski običaji muslimana u Bosni i Hercegovini (IIdopunjeno izdanje), El-Kalem, Sarajevo, 1989, 184-186Mevludi, ilahije, kaside /priredio I. Kajan/, Kaj, Zagreb,1994, 155Pod beharom moje janje spava /sastavio I. Kajan/, Preporod, Zagreb, 1996,17-24 San u bešu, uroci pod bešu, 33 bošnjačke uspavanke /odabrala i priredilaNirha Efendić/, BZK Preporod, Općinsko društvo Centar Sarajevo, BZKPreporod, Općinsko društvo Vogoća, 2007, 107 Od bešike do motike /priredio Alija Nametak/, MostarZbornik alhamijado književnosti /odabrao i priredio dr. Muhamed Huković/,Preporod, Sarajevo, 1997, 87-240

Literature

Bošković-Stulli, Maja (1978), Usmena književnost u: Povijest hrvatske književnosti I, Zagreb: Liber / Mladost.Deretić, Jovan (2007), Istorija srpske književnosti, Beograd: Sezam book.VIizdanje. (prv. izd. 1983.)Hadžiefendić (2007) Remzija Hadžiefendić, Poetika Bošnjačkih narodnihuspavanki, Zbornik radova Islamskog pedagoškog fakulteta u Bihaću, knj.I, Bihać, 187-216.Jahić (1999) Dževad Jahić, Školski rječnik bosanskog jezika, Ljiljan,Biblioteka Linguos, Sarajevo Jakobson (1966) Roman Jakobson, Lingvistika i poetika, Nolit, BeogradLatković, Vido (1967), Narodna književnost I , Beograd: Naučna knjigaMaglajlić, Munib (2006), Bošnjačka usmena lirika u: Usmena lirika Bošnjaka,Sarajevo: Preporod.Nedić, Vladan (1977), Jugoslovenska narodna lirika u: Antologija narodnih lirskihpesama. Beograd: Srpska književna zadruga, II izdanje. Pešić, Radmila / Milošević-Đorđević Nada (1984), Narodna književnost.Beograd: Vuk Karadžić.Prodanović, Jaša M. (1925), Uvodna reč u ant. Ženske narodne pesme, Beograd:Izdavačka knjižarnica Gece Kona.Rečnik književnih termina (1984), Beograd: Institut za književnost i umetnostu Beogradu / Nolit. Solar, Milivoj (2005), Vježbe Tmačenja, Interpretacije lirskih pjesama, Zagreb: Matica hrvatska.Škaljić (1989) Abdulah Škaljić, Turcizmi u srpskohrvatskom jeziku, Svjetlost,SarajevoŠkarić (1974) Ivo Škarić, Nastanak dječjeg govora, Zavod za fonetiku, ZagrebTodorov (1986) Cvetan Todorov, Poetika, „FilipVišnjič“, Zavod za izdavačkudelatnost, BeogradUspenski (1979) B.A.Uspenski, Poetika kompozicije i semiotika ikone, Nolit,BeogradVuletić (1986) Branko Vuletić, Sintaksa krika, Izdavački centar Rijeka,RijekaZima (1988) Luka Zima, Figure u našem narodnom pjesništvu s njihovomteorijom /pretisak izd. JAZU iz 1880/, Globus, Biblioteka Theoriauniversalis, Zagreb

Dear FLTAL Presenters,

Hope in a very shortest time with your gracious presence youwill honor 3rd International Conference on Foreign languageTeaching and Applied Linguistics at International BurchUniversity.

Let me give you some short notices;

1. All laptops in your session rooms will be connected tointernet.

2. You may use a wireless internet at Burch University. Inblock A - Burch Wireless, in block B - Burch Wireless 1

3. Please, upload your ppts’ at session laptops beforestarting presentations and exchange name-cards or writteninformation with the session chairman in order to introduceyou before your speech.

4. Mostar Trip registration will be opened at 13:00pm on the3rd of May, in block B

5. In case if you need any receipt of payment of conferenceregistration fee, please, to avoid mass crowd in the firstmorning, you may get it after 1pm (3rd of May) in block-B atthe help desk.

6. Registration desks will be opened from 7:30am of the 3rd

of May. Try to finish all registration process (groundfloor) till 9:00am and directly go to the conference hall onthe 3rd floor, block-A.

7. You may get final program at fltal web page (clickhere). Please, check whether your name or topic is mistypedand let us know asap.

8. For 2 days long there will be a book display of severalpublishing houses at ground floor, block B, where allsessions will take place.

9. We will appreciate if you will be at the conference hallbefore 9:10am on the 3rd of May due to opening ceremony andProfessor Noam Chomsky will address the audience.

10. Please, we will appreciate if you may bring anysouvenirs representing your country and culture, so it willbe displayed in our university. You may submit it tohelpdesk, and please indicate your name and country aswell. 

11. Upon the requests we're receiving from most of you, thefull paper deadline was extended till 19.04.2013 (Friday). 

12. All conference delegates should keep their conferencename-tags all day long in the conference venue, since thelunch/dinner will be served by showing one's name-tag 

I am looking forward meeting you all at Burch University!

Best,

-- 

On behalf of Chairman of the FLTAL'13 Associate Professor Azamat Akbarov International Burch UniversityFrancuske revolucije bb71210 SarajevoBosnia and Herzegovina Office:+ 387 33 944 424Fax:     + 387 33 782 131