Folk culture surver in Sarız district, Kayseri province

Culture is like the mortar that holds societies together. The values that make up this mortar contain the common experiences, beliefs and knowledge of the oral culture from the past of the societies. If these values cannot be transferred between generations due to various reasons such as migration and epidemics, they begin to lose their power. Since it is important to record the values belonging to the society from the right sources in a short time with compilation studies, the need for this study has emerged. In this study, observation and participatory interview technique was used and the transition periods forming the birth, marriage and death customs in the settlements of Sarız district of Kayseri and the district in the past, which were in the village status but changed to the neighborhood status with the amendment made in the Law No. 6360 in 2012; ceremonies and celebrations developed within the framework of feast, circumcision, and soldier farewell rituals; folk beliefs, folk cuisine and anonymous folk literature products were discussed and it was aimed to record and transfer these products from generation to generation without being lost. The data obtained through compilation studies were compared with similar and different examples in the literature in the regions close to and far from Sariz, and as a result of these comparisons, the place and importance of Sariz in Turkish culture was tried to be revealed. In addition, with this study, the linguistic features of the oral products of Sariz folk culture, the effects of old Turkish beliefs and Islam were determined, and it was aimed that these determinations would contribute to other studies in the field.