Motifs in Sabzevari Lullabies

Lullabies are one of the most important and valuable branches of popular culture in any ethnic group. The theme of lullabies is the reflection of thoughts, beliefs, spiritual reflections, social and political concerns, emotions, prayers and individual and social aspirations that can affect the geographical, cultural, social, and political conditions of a society. Because lullabies are not specific to a particular culture or country, they can have a lot in common, which may be in terms of rhythm, theme, concepts, as well as religious topos, natural, social, geographical, and political motifs and themes. In this descriptive-analytical study, 40 written Sabzevari lullabies have been collected by the library method to be examined. While identifying the method of the motif formation in them, the most commonly used motifs are presented in order to introduce the native lullabies of Sabzevar and to understand the reflection of religious ideas, social conditions and personal concerns of mothers of that time. After examining the various motifs in these lullabies, we were able to divide them into four categories: religious motifs, nature, places and relatives. Among the motifs used, the motif "flower" (the name of different types of flowers) with 26 items and the motif "Baba" with 16 items had the highest frequency. The results of this study show that the speakers of these lullabies have used a variety of motifs to enrich the theme of their lullabies because their poets have based the existing images and themes on various motifs, most of which form a network of images, their intellectual and emotional themes. Without analyzing them, recognizing the main peculiarities of the concepts in these lullabies could not be understood.