Reflections of Mount Cudi and Noah's Flood in folk beliefs in Şırnak and its surroundings

Flood narratives, which are found in many religious beliefs, are especially It is important for religions with large numbers of believers, such as Christianity and Islam. Therefore, it becomes a subject of interest for these religious beliefs, which have a large population, and which should be addressed for the discipline of the history of religions. Şırnak and the other provinces around it, which are considered to be in Upper Mesopotamia, are in a region with an enigmatic atmosphere that contains ancient civilizations, different beliefs and intermingled cultures. "Noah's Flood", which is a common point of a rich diversity of cultures and beliefs, is an event of particular importance in these lands. Whether mythological or real, the "flood" has been a subject of great curiosity and much writing and drawing. It has been the subject of many religious texts, shaped mythology, inspired writers and been depicted in different ways by painters. It has occupied the minds of the people so much that over time it has been reflected in their culture and beliefs. Intertwined with cultures, this issue, which we will consider as a cult in some places, has been a subject that can be evaluated in different ways in a very dynamic environment. What has been said and written about Noah's Flood in Şırnak and its surroundings and the picture in the people's memory of how the event happened are tried to be understood. We will try to have an idea about how this issue, which is much talked about and has different narrations about its place, is reflected in folk beliefs and what place it has in folk religion beyond being a religious belief. In the first section, the conceptual framework is given and the concepts related to the topics of our study are explained. In addition, the subject, purpose and importance of the research are given. In the second chapter, the historical and archaeological data of Şırnak province and its surroundings were investigated. Therefore, a literature review was conducted in the first two chapters. The third part deals with the flood in ancient civilizations and the Abrahamic religious tradition. How the flood event is handled in Assyrian and Sumerian sources, the Torah and the Qur'an has been investigated. The results of our research on the prophet Noah and the flood heroes in some of the different cultures of the flood event are discussed. In the fourth section, a field study was conducted for folk beliefs and rumors and idioms were discussed with the help of voice recordings and forographs. Question-answer, narration and observation techniques were used for this section. The name, age, education level, place and date of birth of the interviewees were recorded. Photographs were taken of places considered sacred in the context of folk beliefs. The reasons and consequences of the sacredness attributed to these places among the people were investigated through question-answer and observation techniques. Words and phrases containing this sacredness in the folk language have been preserved in audio recordings and written down.