ABSTRACT
The Spanish ballads became the most popular manifestation of Sephardic culture. Over the centuries, the Sephardic ballad has become the symbol, not of the Spain from which the Jews were exiled, but of Spain's replacement, the countries of the Sephardic diaspora. A curious feature of the Sephardic ballad is the absence of Jews as individuals (other than in the few biblical ballads which mainly date from pre-expulsion times). There are two other Sephardic ballads where the three religions are grouped together. The Sephardic ballad contains very few features that are specifically Jewish. The religious fanaticism that caused the expulsion to take place transported the custodians of the Spanish ballad to countries where those exiles were able, in their isolation, to maintain this tradition. Their survival was further encouraged by the fact that the form of the ballad fitted in with the religious practice of the Jews.
