KAF | Weekly Seminars Meet Enthusiasts Every Sunday at 2 PM at the City Museum and Archives

The KAF | Center for Cultural Research and Activities, which has organized hundreds of events in Çanakkale since 2012, has resumed its traditional seminar series in Çanakkale after continuing online for an extended period. From now on, events will be held every Sunday at 2 PM at the Çanakkale City Museum and Archives. In this context, the first seminar on "Çanakkale Folk Culture" was held. Ümit İşlek was the speaker at the seminar held on Sunday, November 17.

The seminar focused on the importance of transition ceremonies in understanding societies' sociocultural structures from a folkloric perspective. İşlek noted that the widespread distribution of Turks across vast geographies and their interactions with different cultures make it difficult to understand their cultural structures. Emphasizing that studies conducted in narrow regions yield more productive results, İşlek conveyed that research specific to Çanakkale has revealed significant findings. The speaker, who mentioned previous successful studies about the Tahtacı people, examined the transition rituals of Sunni Yörüks in Çanakkale.

According to research results, while the transition rituals of Sunni Yörük villages in the region generally show similarities with the traditions of Turkey's Turks, some unique practices were also identified. Among these, differences such as the "snack tour" in weddings and the mandatory participation of all village men in funeral burial procedures stood out. The seminar also noted that practices such as the flag ceremony tradition seen in Musaköy and women's inability to enter cemeteries were evaluated as remnants of mythical society. These practices provide important clues about women's social roles in the region and the understanding of sacred spaces.