Merzifon and Gümüşhacıköy (Amasya) zakirlik tradition

The region of Amasya and its surroundings, one of the cornerstones of Anatolian Alevism, has been the centre of Alevi communities throughout history. Merzifon and Gümüşhacıköy districts are the places where the Alevi-Bektashi communities live most densely in Amasya province. The fact that the Alevi community in this region preserves and keeps alive its values of faith and belief, sheds light to execute a study on Alevi traditions and faith elements in this region. And we, in this study, deal with the Zakir in the Cem ceremonies, the role that is one of the most important elements of the Alevi faith. In this study, it is aimed to examine the zakir post, which is the key structure of Cem ceremonies after the dedelik post, within the context of Merzifon and Gümüşhacıköy Alevi belief structure. Information was collected through the compilation method about concepts such as "function", "performance", performance environment", "repertoire" and "biographies of zakirs" of the zakir tradition, and a synthesis was created by comparing these concepts with the traditional zakir model. Apart from the cem, Zakirs' influence on the tradition has also been determined through their performances in village festivals, tableland festivals and cultural events in which they participated. Within the framework of this tradition, the forms such as nefes, deyiş, düvazimam and miraçlama that they play in the cem ceremonies and in performance environments outside the cem have identified. In line with these determined findings, information about the zakir tradition of this region was collected and the zakir tradition was evaluated within the framework of today. Keywords: Zakir, Cem, Dedelik, Alevi