Folk culture elements in the Memories of Aşçı Dede

Culture, which can also be considered as the way of simultaneous existence and communication of people in different ages and times, can be transferred to centuries later within literary works and survive by building bridges between past and future generations in its frozen form of existence. When the frozen cultural elements in literary works are identified through folklore and folk literature research, detailed information on morality, beliefs, art, literature, music, tradition, customs, language, religion, etc. that characterize a certain community or nation can be obtained and an idea about the past can be acquired. Among literary works, memoirs are one of the sources from which cultural elements can be found in the healthiest way since they are not fictional and reflect certain experiences. Aşçı Dede was born in Istanbul in 1828. He graduated from Süleymaniye Rüştiyesi, served as a military officer in cities such as Istanbul, Erzurum, Erzincan, Edirne, and Damascus, gained a wide circle of people with his membership to various religious orders, retired from his profession as a brigadier general and completed his memoir "Aşçı Dede'nin Hatıraları" in 1906. The richness of folk culture elements in the memoirs of Aşçı Dede is quite remarkable and attracted considerable attention, therefore, it was felt necessary to carry out a study on it. The study consists of two parts. In the first part of the study, Aşçı Dede's life and works are introduced and information about the previous studies on his memoirs is provided. The second part explains the elements of folk culture identified in the work "Aşçı Dede'nin Hatıraları" are classified according to their subjects and placed under the titles they are related to. In addition to the preface, introduction, conclusion, and bibliography sections, this study also includes a glossary for certain unknown words. Key Words: Folklore, Folk Literature, Folk Culture, Memoir, Aşçı Dede.