The folklore and ethnography of Mahalmis who live in Midyat district of Mardin province

The ethnographic components of Mahalmis who live in Midyat district of Mardin province are the subject of the thesis. The customs and traditions, beliefs, birth, marriage, death practices, oral culture outputs of Mahalmis who own a very rich culture are the compilation, research and investigation fields of the study. Mahalmis who have a rich cultural background have been living in the same region together with Turks, Kurds and Syriacs for centuries. This culture of living together has always sustained the relationship and interaction they have with each other. But it can be said that, with rapidly-developing technology some of the folkloric elements have sunk into oblivion or they have not been respected adequately by the new generations and this situation has weaken the cultural bonds of Mahalmis. Up to present, the cultural codes of Mahalmis have not been studied at the level of competence in scientific terms. The study has aimed to compile and collect the endangered customs and traditions, oral culture outputs of Mahalmis, the inhabitants of Midyat, who still exist but are facing extinction; to ensure their permanence by transcribing them and to pass down the existing cultural components to the next generations. Also, uncovering and introducing the folk culture and oral literary works of Mahalmis have been aimed. During our study, the techniques that are used in the folk culture studies such as obsorvation, face-to-face meeting and utilizing reference person have been used. Keywords Midyat, Mahalmis, Folklore, Folk Culture.