Birds in Turkish folk culture

Folk culture, which has a dynamic structure, forms the national identities of societies with its structure that is open to change and transformation at any time. Thanks to its concrete and abstract elements, it has the opportunity to transfer the life, traditions, thought and belief system of the people to future generations. For this reason, it is an indisputable fact that each step to be taken to identify, record, protect and carry forward what belongs to folk culture is important for the relevant society. With this approach, birds, which have not lost their importance in the Islamic culture and belief as well as in the traditional Turkish culture and belief, constitute an important part of the field. Birds, whose history dates back to Shamanism and the old Turkish belief system, appear in folk literature products starting from creation myths. Trying to solve the mystery of existence, human beings began to look for answers to their questions in the sky. Being the only creature that can reach the sky thanks to their ability to fly, they attracted the attention of people, and thus birds became one of the creatures that people emulated. The act of "flying" is an action that human beings cannot do and admire. Therefore, all beings that can perform this action are considered sacred, as they are close to God. In this study, folk culture and folk literature products from past to present were researched from written sources and the place and symbolic meaning of birds in the collective consciousness were determined. Researched using the document review technique and content analysis method, it has been determined that birds are accepted as the beginning of the lineage in creation myths, and that these beings are considered sacred and are often symbols of power and sovereignty. It has been determined that birds continue their traces today, symbolically meaning beauty, innocence, goodness, evil, good luck and bad luck, and so on.