Dönüşen Düğüne Tanıklık Etmek
Witnessing the Transforming Wedding

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to analyse wedding ceremonies which differ day by day. In line with this purpose, records obtained by participatory observation and the use of the oral history method were decoded and interpreted. The field study started in February 2016 and continued in the period between July 14 and September 16 at intervals. This study has findings obtained from villages of which residents described themselves as Yoruks (Turkish nomads) and as Balkan immigrants. The findings obtained through oral history and participatory observations demonstrated that there were differences in wedding ceremonies despite the fact that the villagers described themselves as belonging to the same ethnic and religious identity and despite the proximity of their villages. While wedding ceremonies remained important until the present day, they underwent changes due to modernisation and thus they differentiated in parallel to technological development. It was found that technological changes experienced with modernisation caused changes in practices in wedding ceremonies. The changes observed can be listed as cars replacing horses to carry the bride from the father’s home to her new home, dinner tables replacing traditional floor tables wedding meal and candles replacing kindling wood at the entertainment before the wedding day. It was observed in wedding ceremonies attended by the authors that symbols consistent with wedding were selected and used so as to preserve traditionalism. Symbolic figures selected from the past were associated with the present day and thus efforts were made to make the impression that traditions are uninterrupted.

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