Beliefe, folklore and transformations in Varto Alevis

Oral traditions have the function of organizing religious life for non-written societies. This organizational and belief structure determines the forms of culture through oral religions. From this point of view, Alevîsm vitalizes most of the construction and ritual processes through oral culture and oral tradition. The contact of the Alevî society with the written culture has existed as a cultural phenomenon in an area other than the ritual and transmission elements of the Alevîsm belief and religious life. Therefore, in this study, Alevîsm belief is evaluated as an oral tradition. Verbal transfer processes of belief, its traditional features and transformation dynamics have been identified as the main problems. Based on the example of Varto Alevîs, the traditional institutional structure, organizational forms, belief and ritual characteristics of Alevîsm are discussed within the framework of the theme of transformation. The relations that Varto Alevîs have established with written and oral culture have been examined around the concepts of written and oral religion. The state of the belief in the transmission process is discussed in the context of intergenerational differences. In the study, participant observation, observation and interview techniques were applied within the framework of field research method. In this context, interviews were held in the district center of Varto, the villages where the Alevî population lives, and the cities of Istanbul, İzmir, Ankara, Mersin and Adana, where the Alevîs from Varto migrate heavily. In the interviews, attention was paid to age, gender, social status and geographical diversity, and the widest possible sample was tried to be reached. With this method, the living, living state of Alevîsm was tried to be grasped and the transformations experienced were evaluated in the context of current problems.