The following story is collected from my friend. He lived in Turkey for the most part of his life, then lived in Australia for some time. He talks about a Turkish tradition in this collection. This interview is done on phone. “A” refers to me, the collector. And “B” refers to the participant.

A: “Is there any interesting Turkish tradition you know?”

B: “When I was born, my mother gave my umbilical cord to my aunt, who lives in Australia. My mom told my aunt that she wanted my cord to be buried in a park in Melbourne. And according to my mother’s beliefs, which is very common with Turkish people, when my cord is buried in one country or city, I should end up, or interact in a way, with that country at one point in my life. As a result, I ended up living Australia for 9 years, which can be shown as a proof of the fact that beliefs and traditions can sometimes be true.”

A: “What are the reasons for people to practice this tradition?”

B: “They bury for many different reasons. You can bury it in a park of the university that you want to study in the future. If you want your kid to be a doctor, bury it around a hospital. If you want your kid to be a soccer player bury it in a soccer field. Once you bury it in a university, this does not meant your kid will have to go that university, he can go to a better one. You can bury it in a university in Texas, just giving an example, but your kid can go to Harvard in the future. Main purpose is to make sure your kid gets a high education.”

A: “Do you know anyone else who practiced this tradition?”

B: “Yes, my dad. My grandmother buried my fathers cord to ODTU university in Turkey, which is one of the highest ranked universities in the world. He ended up graduating from that school. Another example is my friend’s father. His cord was buried in a hospital when he was young and now he ended up being the head of that university.”

A: “Do you believe this tradition works?”

B: “There are many cases this tradition was successful but this does not mean it works or not. People can be more motivated to achieve their goals with  this tradition and end up working harder.”

Burying umbilical cord is very common in Turkey

The following story is collected from my friend. He lived in Turkey for the most part of his life, then lived in Australia for some time. He talks about a family tradition in this collection. This interview is done on phone. “A” refers to me, the collector. And “B” refers to the participant.

A: “Any tradition that is special to your family?”

B: “I remember that when I was a kid, every time my dad lost something he would always call my grandmother. In order to find the lost items, she would do something, which she called as; “binding the devil”. How this practice worked is very interesting. My grandmother would bind her scarf, while singing some songs in order to find the lost items. And every single time my dad was able to find the lost items he lost.”

A: “Can you tell me more about this?”

B: “She gets a scarf, which is a normal scarf, nothing special about it. She would bind the scarf few times. And while she was doing this, she would sing. She sings religious songs, which are called, “Ilahi”. It is kind of like praying.”

A: “Do you believe in this practice?”

B: “When I lost my stuff, I remember doing it and finding my lost items but I don’t believe hundred percent in it. But it is interesting because, one time, before “binding the devil”, my dad was searching for his passport everywhere and could not find it, but as soons, as the devil was bound, he was able to find it. 99% of the time it was successful. When I witnessed this, I thought about how it can work, because it can not be explained with science.”

A: “Do Turkish people usually have this kind of superficial beliefs?”

B: “Most of the older people, especially older women, have this beliefs or traditions. I think it comes from puberty since when you do not have money, you seek comfort from leaving some problems to unexplainable things.”

The following story is collected from my friend. She lived in Turkey for the most part of her life. She talks about a Turkish tradition in this collection. This interview is done on phone. “A” refers to me, the collector. And “B” refers to the participant.

A: “Did you experience anything that can be described as supernatural?”

B: “At one point in my life, I was feeling down and could not sleep at night. I was in depression. I was talking to my aunt about my problem and she told me I can be under magic. She told me I should get help from someone. She referred me to a woman who practices “istihareye yatmak” ( there is no literal translation for the Turkish word “istihare”. The word refers to someone sleeping and trying to dream in order to see fortune. “Yatmak” literally means sleeping). I talked to the woman and she told me she will help me. The woman who practices this prays before going to sleep. Then she tells to herself something like “Why this person is feeling bad”. After this, she goes to sleep. Her purpose is to find the reasons for my problems in life in her dream. I think colors are important, each have a different meaning. Like, seeing blue is different then seeing red. At first night, she told me she did not see anything. But on the second night, she did. She told me that a tall, brunette man made a spell on me to not leave him and marry him. She also told me this spell was given to by a food. There was really a man like that in my life back then. She told me there are ways to block the magic but I did not try to block it since it is against my belief. I believe magic should not be practiced and for me to block to magic, I knew an opposite magic should have been done.”

B: “What people in Turkey, generally, think about magic?”

A: “There are people who believe in it. Even if you don’t fully believe in it, you can still want to avoid it.There are people, that I know, who carry magic with. This magic is written in a small paper and carried like an accessory. Magic can applied with different methods. Few years ago, around my summer home, people found locks buried under ground. Like many different locks. They broke each of them and threw it to sea in order to stop the effect of magic. It is scary to imagine that someone bury locks under your home. My friend found a small written magic hidden in her closet. I heard people cover the paper with pig fat. I think, people with low incomes, are the ones who most believe in magic.”

The following story is collected from my friend. He lived in Turkey for the most part of his life. He talks about a Turkish tradition in this collection. This interview is done on phone. “A” refers to me, the collector. And “B” refers to the participant.

A: “Do you know any interesting traditions in Turkey?”

B: “There was a tree near my grandmother’s home which was placed in a cemetery. People, who could not have kids, used to go there and tie a rope around the tree. They assume it will help them with having kids. Then if you happen to have a kid in the future, you go back to tree and offer free food to people around as an act of kindness.  “

A:” Do you have a personal experience?”

B: “I wanted to go to university and was stressed because of the coming exams. I went to “Aya Yorgi” Church in Buyuk Ada (An island close to Istanbul). The date was 23 of April, because that is the day it is believed to work best. I went to the top of the island and found the tree everyone believes to have magic powers. I was told, I have to walk all the way to top without getting help from anyone or anything. When I was in the top, I tied a rope to the tree, which is connected to a spool. Then I walked all the way to the sea, while holding the spool. There were a lot of people doing the same thing.”

A: “Did you get in the university you wanted?”

B: “Yes”

A: “Do you believe, you got in to university because of this?”

B: “I don’t know. I just wanted to give a try.”

B: “Is it a religious activity since tree is located in a church.”

A: “It is a tradition in Turkey. It is not connected to religion, people from any religion can go there. You can see Muslim, Christian and Jewish people there.”  

The following story is collected from my friend. He lived in Turkey for the most part of his life. He talks about a Turkish tradition in this collection. This interview is done on phone. “A” refers to me, the collector. And “B” refers to the participant.

A: “Is there a practice in Turkey, for people to learn about their future.”

B: “Yes. I think there are many different ways of doing it. One of them is known as coffee fortune telling. When people come together in a group and drink coffee, they are excited to learn about their fortune with it. First they drink classical Turkish coffee, then they turn it upside down and place it on the small plate. After coffee is dried, it is turned up again and now there are shapes all over the cup. Someone looks at the shapes and come up with future predictions. Usually Turkish women like their fortune to be red more than the men, but everyone does it. If you walk in the streets of Istanbul, you can see English signs saying “FREE FORTUNE TELLING WITH YOUR COFFEE” to attract tourists. Of course, the coffee will cost much more than normal since someone will read it for you.”

A: “Do you have any personal experience?”

B: “Yes, of course. I did this many times, it is something we do very often. But if I have to talk about one time; It was few years ago. There was a guest in my home. She is known for her mystical stuff like this. She was reading everyone’s fortune so I also wanted to join. I drank a coffee and flipped it over. Once the coffee was dry, I handed to her. She looked at it and told me two things; “You will go to America and you will be separated from your girlfriend”. As I am doing this interview now in NYC, you can see the first one came true. I also ended up breaking up with my girlfriend.”

A: “Do you think it is real?”

B: “I mean like… Sometimes it really becomes true. Also there are people in Turkey, who are known to be really good at this. People recommend them to their friends, if what they told to them becomes true. If they told wrong things, they would not be known.”