Folk culture of Niğde Elmalı( Şeyhler) Village and its surroundings

Culture is known as a concept that encompasses all the material and spiritual elements that make a nation different from other nations. Changes in technology, wars, migrations, and other factors that affect people have caused culture to change and even some cultural elements to be forgotten. Therefore, in a rapidly changing world, it is very important to record the values of regions that are beginning to lose their rich traditional cultural structure under the influence of technology and pass them on to future generations without erasing them from memory. Based on this awareness, the sample center of our thesis study is Niğde Elmalı (Şeyhler) village, and Himmetli, Yarhisar and Çavdarlı villages mentioned in the study were included in the research region in order to examine them comparatively. The data obtained throughout the study were taken from Elmalı (Şeyhler) village. Different elements obtained from other villages mentioned as research regions were given together with the village name in the thesis and the thesis content was enriched by transferring them comparatively. The study included general information about Elmalı (Şeyhler) village and its surroundings, transition periods, holidays, ceremonies and celebrations, folk medicine, anonymous folk literature, traditional children's games, folk cuisine, handicrafts, and words used in Elmalı dialect. With compilation studies, it was aimed to compare Elmalı (Şeyhler) village and its surroundings with similar and different regions, reveal its place and importance in Turkish culture, and to transfer this culture to future generations and contribute to the studies to be carried out. Keywords: Elmalı, folk culture, Niğde traditions, monograph.