Femininity situations: Reflections of bodily transformations on women's folklore

The researches of women folklore have been generally focused on the basic subjects of ethnology, folklore such as tradition, customs, public beliefs, folks, manners and discussed within the frames like apparel, ways of adornment, social gender, and traditional codes which are mainly identified with women. Hence, studies of women's folklore which expands extensively at the research center of folklore show functionality that facilitates enlightenment of the traces of perceptions regarding women within the social structuring. In the research of this thesis study, in order to comprehend what kind of path do all these functionalities form within the scope of physiological processes unique to women's nature, it was aimed to be elaborately discussed by applying compilation method, observation and question & answer method with source people selected among certain groups of ages. During the studies, physiological phases of women, living in various parts of Turkey, that can be experienced only by being women created a debate on how they are engaged in life adventures in spiritual as well as physical and social perspectives. Periodical processes such as "taboo", "virginity", "marriage", "space", "birth", which fall into women's life along with periodical bleeding during puberty, from the early youth until menopause, have been discussed with transformation phases created on shaping women's life. In addition, how periodical bleeding that leaves women's life by the age of maturity leads to transformation in women's life during menopause period has been examined and it was aimed at having various identifications regarding apparent results of aspects that change women's life. Both transition to womanhood by first menstrual bleeding and transition to menopause by maturity trigger transformational periods in women's life within the contexts of the roles that the society attributes to women. It was concluded out of findings from the gathered data that the meaning that physiological periods contribute to women's life cannot be dealt with a perspective of overwhelming majority and that these periods that transforms women's life can be read through many disciplines, which is especially apparent in the field of folklore.