Mythological elements in Sivas folk songs

Folk songs are a special language that often emerges as a result of a natural event, love, rebellion, resentment, death or heroism, and born and spread among the people, which enables them to pass on the world view, beliefs, traditions and artistic taste of the society they live in. They are products that show a distinct richness with different musical and lyric changes (variants) from time to time, which leave the way they were first created and turn into the common creation of the people. Folk songs have a long history. There is a unique history of literature that Turks created before Islam, in which they include their own traditions and lifestyles. This literature consists of poems that are the source of today's folk poetry and sung with the instrument. Folk songs itself cannot be considered apart from lyrics, music and rhythm. In this context, folk songs are a type of performance created by the bard and the kopuz in their own timbre, when the writing was not yet developed. Although these works seem to have started individual in the first birth, they found their place in the hearts of the whole people, and they found their color, shape and subject again in the language of every bard and lover, and became an original and belonged to the society. Sivas region, on the other hand, is a special region in terms of the tradition of minstrelsy, style, wealth and the density of minstrels. The relationship between folk lyrics of Sivas region and mythology was evaluated in the context of mythological elements. The cultural accumulation of the oral cultural process that has been going on for centuries in the region and the validity of these assumptions have caused this to be passed on to the young generations and the fact that the tradition of singing folk songs still exist. In this study, which consists of two main chapters, the place of mythology in society, what is mythology, in society, its function and symbols, the concept of folk song, the history of the folk song, the functions and features of the folk song, the relationship between Türkü and Mythology are discussed. In the study, Turkish Folk Music repertoire internet, and various anonymous and folk songs belonging to Sivas region were examined and classified. These folk lyrics (specific to Sivas region), which we think reflect mythological elements, have been examined. Based on the idea that any mythological motif can be included in the folk song in a way that is related or not related to the main theme of Sivas folk songs, the aim of revealing the connection between folk song and mythology was the birth point of this study. Keywords: Sivas, mythology, folk song, mythological elements