Palestinian Hagiographic Paremiology: Compilation, Study and Translation into Spanish

Abstract

The primary objective of this research work is to verify the importance of the saints and the Christian liturgy in the motivation of meteorological sayings in Palestinian proverbs. It is also intended to analyze the reasons behind this calendar sacralization in the paremiological heritage of a predominantly Muslim society. The methodology of the present work is based on the collection, study and translation into Spanish of those proverbs allusive to the Christian festivities of Santa Barbara, Christmas, Epiphany, Lod Day, Exaltation Day of the Holy Cross and Holy Saturday and the Transfiguration of Lord Saint Elias. It is concluded that Palestinian farmers and ranchers place high confidence in these proverbs that have become empirical knowledge capsules after observing the sky for many centuries' and have become reliable sources of information about the weather. On the other hand, the forecasts provided by the examples gathered respond to reality and fit very well with storms and predict their respective dates.