RITUAL FOLKLORE OF WESTERN AZERBAIJAN: POETIC STRUCTURES, ARCHETYPAL CODES AND THE SYNERGETIC MODEL OF COLLECTIVE MEMORY

Abstract

This study examines the ritual folklore of Western Azerbaijan as a multilayered cultural system that integrates mythological thought, social ritual, verbal art and collective emotional experience. Rit-ual genres such as saya chants, holavar, wedding songs, laments, rain-invoking prayers and sacrificial invocations form a syncretic structure in which word, sound, movement and symbolic objects operate as a unified performative mechanism. Through semiotic, archetypal and synergetic analysis, the re-search reveals that this folklore functions not only as an aesthetic tradition but also as a cultural memory system that preserves identity, restores emotional balance and rEkonstructs the lost homeland on the symbolic level. The post-1988 displacement strengthened the role of ritual folklore as a medi-um of cultural continuity and mnemonic resistance. The findings demonstrate that Western Azerbaija-ni ritual folklore represents a self-organizing poetic cosmos that regenerates collective memory and sustains national identity across generations.