Milli Folklor

Abstract

Values and culture undoubtedly reveal the true existence of a nation. Therefore, for a nation to exist; it is possible by preserving its mother tongue, folklore, traditions, customs, national identity, value judgments and protecting its own culture. Researching and examining the languages, cultures and literatures of Turkish states and communities spread over a large area in the world with scientific methods will contribute greatly to the unity of language, culture, folklore and literature in the Turkic world. In the study, "Ramadan and Eid-alFitr traditions", which are among the cultural elements of the Erbil Turkmen, and the "Sini-Zarf" game, which comes to mind first when the month of Ramadan is mentioned, are discussed. In this direction, the aim of the study is to determine the Ramadan and Eid-al-Fitr customs, traditions and customs of the Turkmen living in Erbil with the data obtained from the people living here and to contribute to the transmission of these cultural elements. In order to carry out this review, document analysis and field research methods, which are among the qualitative research methods, were used. In field research, seven Erbil Turkmen who live in Erbil, have knowledge of their own national culture and practice customs and traditions, and have a wide social circle, were interviewed by applying the semi-structured interview technique. Attention was paid to ensure that the interviewees were both young people who will have a role in cultural transmission for future generations, and middle-aged people who transmit culture to current generations, and that the participants were Turkmen individuals from intergenerational transition periods. Turkmens in Iraq live intensively in Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Diyale, Selahattin and dozens of districts, sub-districts and villages connected to these provinces. However, it can be easily said that there are thousands of Turkmen living in various provinces of Iraq for different reasons, especially the capital Baghdad. Even though there are fewer Turkmen residing in these regions, especially in Erbil, as a result of the population policies implemented in 2010 and after, Turkmens try to protect their national and cultural assets by transmitting them to new generations. The cultural elements of the Turkmens living in Erbil alive, protecting and transmitting them to future generations is very important for the Turkmen to continue their existence in the region throughout history. Keeping culture to live and maintaining; customs and traditions, tangible or intangible culture and verbal and nonverbal folk language elements are achieved by preserving and keeping the means alive. As stated in the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage adopted by UNESCO in October 2003, "Social practices, rituals and feasts" are among the domains of intangible cultural heritage. The term “safeguarding” in the Convention assures the existence of the intangible cultural heritage. Safeguarding is possible with the following elements: “Documentation, research, identification, protection, development, strengthening, transmission through formal and nonformal education”. The traditions of "Ramadan and Eid-al-Fitr" in Erbil Turkmen are strong social rituals that are included in the intangible cultural heritage and transmitted from generation to generation. For this reason, our research is limited to the traditions of Ramadan and Eid Ramadan, in which the cultural transmission of Erbil Turkmens is felt most strongly. In the first part of the research, a literature review was made about the researches in this field, and in this direction, information was given about the Iraqi and Erbil Turkmens. In the second part; general information about the Ramadan and Eid Ramadan traditions, customs and traditions of the Turkmen of Erbil was given and the findings of the meetings held with Turkmen from various professions and different age groups living in Erbil about the Month of Ramadan and Eid Ramadan were indicated and analyzed. In the last section, on the basis of the analysis of the interview findings, the role of the Erbil Turkmen's Ramadan and Eid Ramadan traditions in cultural transmission has been determined and suggestions have been made that can contribute to the scientific studies to be made on the identification of national cultural elements and cultural transmission of the Erbil Turkmen.