The rites of passage (Birth, circumcision, marriage, and funeral) of Erzincan's Kemah villages: An anthropological analysis

This thesis focuses on how villagers from Erzincan's Kemah Region-who live in Kemah or İstanbul- perform their rites of passage (birth, circumcision, marriage, and funeral) and analyzes through an interpretative approach under which socio-cultural factors the ritual symbols are formed and transformed. For this aim, in-depth interviews are conducted with 31 people in Kemah's villages and 13 people in İstanbul. And also, nine ceremonies were observed as participant. The study stresses the concept of "local" within the framework of ritual change. The argument of this thesis is that patterns of local culture change with time, place and in line with the socio-cultural conditions. Some of the traditions which generated the rites of passage of the villagers, who live both in the villages of Kemah and in Istanbul, have turned into traditions whose distinguishing elements are eroding in time blending with the different cultures the villagers have met in Istanbul. Key words: The rites of passage, myth, symbolic, interpretative, performance, social drama, collective memory