A sociological research on the religious faith and practices of Bulgarian immigrants: The case of immigrants living in Hatay-Erzin

The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of the ethnic inheritance, which is a determinant of the immigrants' religious attitudes on the public piety through religious faith and attitudes. Two immigrant villages in the Erzin district of Hatay were selected as the case. In the first chapter, the historical background, geographical location and demographic structure of Erzin town have been covered. In addition, the religious structure and organization in migrants' villages, the visibility of religious life in the villages and the varieties of piety have been studied. In the second chapter, the transition period rituals have been underlined through which we can frankly observe the religious and cultural bonds of a community and which paves the way for the individuals to integrate with the community adopting the immigrant sub-culture that they belong to. Then, public faith and practices seen in transition period rituals have been discussed widely and the issues of why the impact of these practices exist on the new generations or why they do not exist have been evaluated in the light of the interviews and participants' observations. As according to the findings living in the Erzin district of Hatay as Bulgarian immigrants living in order region of Turkey shown that Bulgarian immigrants more religious attitudes. The main reason migrated is because of they had been under pressure national and religious identities. The reaction of immigrants' that pressure against have been immigrants was influential adoption of an identity Muslim – migrants' Turkish synthesis. The findings in the second chapter show that some rituals have ceased to be implemented in the new generation. Some folk beliefs and practices in transitional rituals have disappeared. In this case it has been determined that the Social changes in the society are effective with the awareness of the new generation on religion.