MİTTEN RİTÜELE, RİTÜELDEN KUTSAL MERASİMLERE: TÜRK MİTOLOJİSİ VE TÜRK HALK OYUNLARI
FROM MYTH TO RITUAL, FROM RITUAL TO SACRED CEREMONIES: TURKISH MYTHOLOGY AND TURKISH FOLK DANCES

Summary/Abstract: Folk dances, reflecting the fundamental logic of the “ancestor” cult as well as the symbols of the “tree”, “fire”, “water”, and “earth” cults, which are among the main elements starting from the creation myths of Turkish mythology along with sacred rituals, have been widely performed and reproduced in the process extending from Central Asia to Anatolia. In Turkish culture, folk dances, which integrate dance, music, and drama and are shaped by rituals, festivals, and ceremonies that cannot exist without any mythological element, have been secured and supported by myths referencing ancestors. The cultural accumulation created by the repetition of such ceremonies has existed in harmony with new factors encountered over time (religion, geography, lifestyle, interaction with neighboring cultures), thus preserving national memory. Folk dances, which are the dramatic forms of myths in rituals and are the embodied forms of tradition, worldview, and lifestyle, have played a very important role in the transmission of all the achievements society has gained since its existence, across generations. This study evaluates the shared historical depth of Turkish folk dances and Turkish mythology, their sacred values in the collective memory, and the parallel forms of representation embodied in cultural elements such as ceremonies, rituals, and ancient beliefs.

• Details
• Contents