Rize Folklore monography

One of the most ancient settlements of the Eastern Blacksea Region as well as being one of the first diffusion areas of the Turkish cultural being in Anatolia, the city of Rize has unique qualities for folkloric studies in respect to its multicultural layers. In this context, our study, in which we analyzed the oral and material culture of the city of Rize consists of three sections.In the first section, the settlement history of the city, which underlies the historical background of the culture, is analyzed under the light of documents and former studies. In addition, the names of the Turkic tribes that settled in the region, the dates they settled, other tribes lived in the region within the course of history, and their contribution to current culture are also revealed. In the second section, the works such as tales, legends, jokes, riddles, folk songs, song duels of bards, proverbs, idioms, etc., which constitute the oral culture of Rize, are contextually evaluated and analyzed in comparison to their likes from the other regions of Turkish cultural basin. In the same section, the local dialects of Rize are examined in respect to their position and contribution to Turkish language.In the third section, the interim rituals of life as well as the important days and their rituals that constitute the daily life of Rize province; the production process and the producing tools and techniques of the ethnographic products such as traditional architecture, handicrafts and weavings that constitute the material culture of the city; the motifs used in the weavings and the plans used in the architecture; and cultural components such as folk calendar, folk physic; folk veterinary medicine, transhumance and folk music are comparatively analyzed in respect to the general Turkish culture.In conclusion, this study aimed at analyzing the local culture of the city of Rize within a holistic approach as well as locating its position in the Turkish cultural basin. It also made some suggestions on the local culture of the city for further studies.