Tag Archives: Turkish

Protective snake legend/memorate

Age: 21

Text:

We had a land and Romans and Greek people, you know, used to live there. And

my grandpa was saying, like, in our garden, we have,  gold in our garden. They hide the gold before, like, when they’re, escaping from something, you know, like Turkish, when they’re escaping from Turks, like, they hide the gold. there in our garden. Actually, that’s what he says. And also, like, there’s another story that in that land, he says there is a very, very big snake. We call that snake like a mustache snake, that he protects the treasure. He was telling me that he saw that snake. My grandpa was a farmer, and he was doing some farming stuff, and he was in a tractor. And he told me that he saw this snake. He was kind of overreacting, probably, but he told me when they were driving the tractor, one snake jump off the top of the tractor. That’s what he told me, and what he said was, he got a mustache, that snake. And he’s very big. He’s like five, six meters. That’s what he says. Like five meters. And we call, as I said, we call, like a mustache snake. That snake has a mustache, and he protect the treasure. 

Context:

This is a legend told to the informant by his grandfather when he was 12 or 13. It is rooted in the geographical history of Cesme and Alacati, where he is from; the ancient Greeks and Romans did live in the area. In Turkish mythology there is a protective snake deity named Yilan Tanrı, and past peoples having buried treasure is a trope in Turkish legends.  

Analysis:

This legend/memorate has a few functions. It is educational, teaching the informant about the history of the region, and perhaps embeds some Turkish Nationalism; the garden, and by extension the land is valuable because there is gold buried there. The informant’s disbelief in the memorate, saying “that’s what he said, actually” and that his grandpa was probably exaggerating, highlights the partial belief or belief with doubt that lay at the heart of legends. There isn’t a good reference for a snake with a moustache, but the moustache may be a tool the grandfather used to make the story more entertaining for the informant, or a way to make the story his own given the buried treasure and snake are common themes in Turkish legend. 

Turkish Circumcision

Age: 21

Text:

“When I was getting circumcision, all the people was watching me, actually. If I remember, I was in my parents room and a doctor came, and he started, doing a circumcision, to me – actually, that day, my grandpa. called me like my grandpa was over there. They give me a shot to my balls, like local anaesthesia, and I was six, and I remember I didn’t feel anything there, you know. And I was like, freaking out. And I escaped from the house. I started running, and my grandpa catch me, and he told me that, ‘hey, you’re not gonna do it right now. They’re gonna do it in the army. They’re gonna do it in the military, and they do it with the axe, when you’re 20.’ I was like, what? I’m like, I was so scared, you know, I’m like, ‘Okay, I should go back, I guess.’ Because I was so scared. In Turkey, military is mandatory, you don’t have a choice. I was like, forcing, and I went back, and I just made them do it. And as I said, I was like, six, – I have a video too. When I was getting a circumcision, and my aunts were coming in the room, my uncles were coming in the room, you know, they were just watching me. I’m like, and I didn’t know that much, you know, what’s going on. I remember, we do have food and stuff. People is coming more like our inner circle people, like Inner Inner Circle family. They come in and they eat some stuff, you know, and be celebrating that in the hall, in the home, too.”

Context:

“I didn’t know if it’s, like, very important thing, you know, and I didn’t know that much, but I knew that for my grandpa, for example, it was very important”

Analysis: 

This account of the Turkish sünnet (circumcision) ritual, emphasizes both its emotional weight and its communal significance. The informant’s memory blends fear, confusion, and performance, as the procedure becomes not only a medical event but a public spectacle within the family home. The presence of relatives, the filming of the moment, and the celebratory food all reflect the integration of private bodily transformation with familial observation and tradition. His grandfather’s comment—framing circumcision as a necessary precursor to avoid a harsher military version—reflects how elders use symbolic threats and traditional authority to uphold cultural rites. While the child at the center doesn’t fully understand the ritual’s meaning, he perceives its importance through the seriousness with which his elders treat it. 

Turkish Blood apotropaic – protection for car

Age: 21

Text:

“So what we do is, when we buy a car, usually, or when you buy a new thing, something new, it’s kind of brutal, but what they do usually it’s either chicken or like, sheep or something. They cut it and they put the blood in the front of the car, in the hood. They think it’s protected, like, the car, you know. It’s not religious. It’s just like a turkey. It’s just a Turkish thing.”

Context:

This custom seems to stem from animal sacrifice, though the informant insisted the practice today is just a “Turkish thing” and isn’t religious. According to him, this superstition/practice isn’t very popular with young people. 

Analysis:

The blood in this custom functions as an apotropaic, meant to protect a new object. Cars in this example carry special weight because they are very expensive in Turkey, around 2-3 times that in America, so it is a big life shift to purchase one. Though people are distancing themselves from the practice or original belief (first from Islamic tradition, then young people from older superstition) they still perform it. 

Sole of the shoe facing up, disrespecting God

Age: 21

Text:

“If you have sandals and you put the sandals on the ground upside down, its a bad thing. It means you are disrespecting God. This is for any shoes, it’s disrespect. I learned this when I was little. I don’t care anymore, but some people believe that.”

Context:

The informant learned this in childhood, and said it is a very common belief, and attributed it to the Muslim majority in Turkey.

Analysis: 

In Islamic countries (and Muslim-majority Turkey) shoes are considered dirty because they touch the ground which is unclean. To turn the bottom of your sandal or shoe upwards, towards God, is to show him disrespect. The informant no longer cares, demonstrating secularization, but there is belief negotiation – they respect that others, many not Muslim, abide by it. 

Turkish circumcision wedding

Age: 21

“We got a circumcision wedding in Turkey. When you’re a kid, and you’re a boy, you know, and you get a circumcision, you do a wedding for him. Here [in America] usually you get a circumcision when you’re little kid, like a baby, but in Turkey, it was like, when you were, like, six, seven years old, they were doing, they were doing that. For example for me, I got a circumcision when I was six, and my parents did a wedding for me. Said we call circumcision. Wedding is for the boys and, like they invited a bunch of people, like in my wedding, that was like four or 500 people. Like 400 300 at least people in my circumcision wedding, and they give you money, and people is, having fun, you know, and that kind of stuff. 

So in the morning, when it was like one to 2pm in the afternoon, we’re doing a convoy. And probably, like, as much as the cars they come in, it’s like 20, 30 cars. They were like 35 cars. You know, we go one by one like everybody follows each other. It’s just one line. And everybody’s like, using their honk. And it’s like, sometimes being like, 20 cars, 30 cars, for the cars, you know, yeah, and people is coming, they following you. You being in the first car, usually. And, you just, like, telling the people who doesn’t know you, oh, I got the circumcision, you know. It’s a tradition too. Yeah, it’s on the wedding day. after that you just get them prepared. Youhave, a specific clothes that you should wear, and you wearing that clothes, and you just getting ready.

They are like traditional clothes. 

In the wedding, usually we have a pasta. not a pasta, actually, it’s a dessert we call pasta, but it’s like a cake, like a birthday cake, but a really big one, like, maybe, 200 people cake, you know, they can eat, slices, you know. And you have that and you dancing. And after, like, a couple hours, you have a different, you just not changing the clothes, but they give you something, and you wear something, and people is coming, and they starting to give you gold or, like money, but on the clothes, they put with the needle. Yeah, they give you money, they give you gold, whatever they give you, like, and you just thank them like, ‘Thank you.’ and your parents are in the same line. You ,your parents, your grandpa, you know, you’re waiting in the same line. And people is like giving you some stuff, presents, I’m coming from the Aegean side, we have a specific, like a dance for the Aegeans. And we did, that actually, (the zeybek dance).”

Context: 

This is a widespread traditional rite of passage in Turkey called sünnet düğünü. The traditional dance referenced is the zeybek dance. The informant said he didn’t understand, but knew it was important to his grandfather. 

Analysis:

This ritual is a public celebration of the informant’s transition towards manhood, and social recognition, and religious belonging. The convoy announces this to the broader community. The pinning of gold or money to clothes is present in other Turkish celebrations, like weddings and births, and ritualizes support and symbolic investment into the informant and his family, who are in line to receive gifts with him. In many ways, the celebration is for the family just as much, if not more, than for the informant who at that age, didn’t understand what was going on or why. The celebration as a whole ties Muslim identity (religious duty of circumcision) and regional community to the boy’s identity.