Traces of turkish mythology in the Alevi-Bektashi legends

In the prehistoric times when human beings existed, some efforts were made to make sense of the universe. Efforts to make sense of the universe full of secrets have constituted rituals that contain myths and symbolic practices that confer all the limits of imagination. Myths about the creation of the universe and the beings in the universe have survived with the products of oral culture and have brought the elements of collective consciousness in prehistoric times to the present day. Myths that have these functions have survived in all areas of life. Today, Islam adopted by the Turkish nation and the Alevi-Bektaşi belief within the scope of Islam is only one of the areas in question. Alevi-Bektashism within the scope of Islam is a wide field where myths remain in existence both in terms of the belief system and in terms of the literary products it has developed. A large part of the literature that developed within the scope of Alevi-Bektaşi faith consisted of menkibes that dealt with the miracles of the saints who led the society in all aspects of religion and life. These menkibes, collected in works such as Velayetname and menakıpname, contain many elements of Turkish mythology. The relationship of these works with Turkish mythology comes from the migration of Ehlibeyt to Central Asia and their cultural interaction here. Ehlibeyt's migration to Central Asia for various reasons enabled the Turks, who had adopted the belief in the Sky God and the Shamanism within the scope of this belief, to adopt the Alevi-Bektashi belief. Because of this, an Alevism belief originated from Shamanism was formed, and this syncretic form of belief has survived to the present day with the migration of Turks to Anatolia. Especially the menkibes, which were formed by the influence of Alevism in the Anatolian geography, served as a bridge between centuries and generations and carried traces of Turkish mythology, have an intense motif structure in the mythological sense. In this study, the elements of Turkish mythology of the menkibes formed within the scope of Alevi-Bektaşi faith will be evaluated in mythological, symbolic and archetypal aspects. Therefore, the Turkish mythological origins of the Alevi-Bektaşi faith will come to light. Keywords: Myth, Turkish Mythology, Alevi-Bektashi Belief, Legend, Motif, Symbol