The Semantics of the Sun According to a Georgian Ritual Song
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The article discusses the Georgian ritual song „Mze Shina da Mze Gareta“ („Sun Within and Sun Without“), which was performed upon the birth of a son. The text of the song reveals the binary opposition of „inside“ (shina) and „outside“ (gare). The article examines this binarity in both macrocosmic and microcosmic dimensions. From the macrocosmic perspective, the sun’s „entering inside“ signifies the birth of the sun itself – its appearance in the „samzeo“ (the human dwelling-place). From the microcosmic perspective, „inside“ corresponds to the body of the newborn, while the sun is interpreted as a metaphor for his soul. Accordingly, the invocation of the sun’s „entering inside“ denotes the soul’s entrance into the body, that is, the very moment of birth, which explains the tradition of performing this ritual song at childbirth. This confirm the connection between the words sun (mze) and son (vazhi), a linguistic root shared across Kartvelian and Indo-European languages. The article also consider why the song was performed specifically for the birth of a son rather than a daughter. Finally, particular attention is given to the enigmatic verse declaring that „the boy’s father is not at home,“ which is advanced as a hypothesis: that it may be read as a prophetic anticipation of the soul’s indwelling and, in a broader perspective, as a distant foreshadowing of later Christian notions of divine incarnation.
Source: ACADEMIA
Author: Ana Kldiashvili
Institution: Tbilisi State Academy of Arts
Language: English
Subfield: Museology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4414918241
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