Traces of old Turkish beliefs in folk beliefs of Adana comparison-analysis

Turkish culture, for centuries, has spread all over the world from its main land and it has both influenced and affected those cultures by interaction. Therefore, while it has left its marks to a wide geography, it has received many patterns from these cultures into its presence. This research aims to evaluate the link between the folk beliefs which composes a significant part of domestic culture in Adana and old Turkish beliefs, Turkish world and Anatolian region; to present and record the transformations and changes in those beliefs and to contribute similar research in this field. This research consists of eight parts. The first part provides an introduction to the general framework of the research, objectives, methods, relevant terms and concepts related with the research subject and then provides information about the historical, socio cultural, economical and geographical characteristics of the region and introduces the previous research conducted in the field of folk beliefs in Turkey and Adana. In the second part pre Islamic period was briefly presented in terms of its role as one of the major sources of Turkish folk beliefs. In third part as a source of Turkish people's beliefs, the teogonic, cosmogonic, antrophogonic and eschatological cults of Turkish mythology were theoretically evaluated and the cults that appeared in Turkish mythology assessed starting from the beliefs related with creation of gods, universe and people as well as the end of the world. In the fourth part, the beliefs in Turkish world and Anatolia related with transitional periods such as marriage and death were scanned from written sources. The beliefs linking to transitional periods which have been determined and compiled through verbal sources in Adana were analyzed and evaluated in terms of differences and similarities among them. In fifth part candles, holly months, religious and national celebration days and ceremonies in folk culture of Adana and beliefs related with these issues were reclaimed. The sixth part analyzes the folk remedies in Adana folk culture and beliefs about it; and the seventh part assesses the rest of the folk beliefs regarding to the context of Turkish world, Anatolia and Adana. This research comes to an end through a conclusion, verbal information sources, references, general network resources, photographs and the curriculum vitae of the author.