Transitional period rituals in Turkish epics (Kyrgyz, Bashkurt, Kazakh and Altay)

Human life is a process of change and development that begins with birth and continues until death. This process has important subprocesses that serve as thresholds through which individuals move from one previous position to the next. These phases, called transition periods; It covers all processes related to birth, marriage and death. While people bless the transition periods with their traditional beliefs and practices, they also try to protect themselves from the negativities they believe they will be exposed to the most during these phases. The rituals performed are of great importance in spreading the whole society together with the individual and ensuring that the new phase is internalized and experienced without any problems. Epics, which are old oral narrative genres, also have a great richness in terms of transition period rituals. It seems that many traditional transition periods played a significant role in continuing the historical cycle in different parts of the wider Turkish world. Folk beliefs and traditional practices related to transition periods in these influential Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Altai and Bashkir epics were analyzed and common and different sections were evaluated based on selected sample texts. It is important that the findings obtained both preserve similar practices in the Turkish world and show the point where the rot in the past started.