Folk beliefs and practices in Şırnak province

Myths, folk beliefs, superstitions and practices are phenomena that have accompanied human history since ancient times. Man's curiosity and search for answers to his questions have triggered the emergence of myths and religions. Belief and mythology fuel each other and can turn into each other or into religion. Although folk beliefs, which are not innate but learnt later, are mostly known as superstition, they are the equivalent of old religions and the new religion together and have been passed down from generation to generation and are anything informal and formal related to the belief that the human species has brought with it on its journey through history. Myths continue to occupy an important place in the developmental scale of modern man, and modern man, even today, believes in the existence of magic, evil eye, extraordinary beings and jinx, and continues to give archaic reactions by failing to break the matrices of his imagination in this mythical journey of history. The universal pattern of myth continues its basic functions in the life of contemporary man. Even today, myth permeates the deepest points of human beings and affects their daily lives with its ability to stimulate them. Folk beliefs are the reflections of myths and old beliefs in the people. While folklore focuses on the tangible and intangible cultural aspects of the people, folk belief covers all beliefs that exist in society in general and is the public equivalent of religion. Folk beliefs, which are generally related to daily life and the material world and offer practical solutions in this regard, do not pretermit to make reference to theology, mythology, anthropology, history and superstition in doing so. People resort to folk beliefs for reasons such as hope, fear, lack of science and knowledge, and desperation; for purposes such as the need for security, the desire to know the future, tangible and intangible support. The Şırnak region is considered to be a multi-religious and historical geography, where folk beliefs preserve their vitality and actuality, and the cosmic centre of "Noah's Flood". And, this is reflected in the folk beliefs in the region, which reveal the cultural structure of the society to which it belongs. Although the implementation of folk beliefs practices and rituals in the region has decreased today in comparison to the past, folk beliefs are still believed in. In today's Şırnak region, where rites of passage (birth, marriage, death) and practices are still based on old traditions and beliefs, the old practices and implementations of folk medicine continue to be extensively practised and places of visit such as shrines, hot springs, healing mud and waters are still visited for various problems.