TÜRK KÜLTÜRÜNDE YENİ BİR ANT İÇME TÖRENİ OLARAK “TOPRAK FERAĞI (TOPRAK ANDI)”
LAND OATH AS A NEW OATH CEREMONY IN TURKISH CULTURE

Summary/Abstract: The survival of cultural elements and their transfer to the future is proportional to the meaning and function that society attributes to that element. It is seen that these elements, which maintain their value and function in the eyes of society, maintain their existence and continue to live in different ways, even though there are changes and transformations throughout history. It is understood that the Turks, as a customary/culturalist society, keep their cultural elements alive by changing and transforming them according to the conditions of the age. It is possible to call such cultural elements as dominant elements. One of the dominant elements in the Turkish cultural universe is oath ceremonies. Oath ceremonies, which continue to live as a cultural element that Turks do not give up in different geographies, at different times, in different historical and political conditions, have managed to preserve their existence alive even though their form has undergone some changes. This situation largely shows the power of oral culture. Although there are many types of oath ceremonies that regulate human relations in the oral culture environment and serve the purpose of maintaining order and the legal system in society, it does not go unnoticed that they appear especially in ceremonies such as marriage, state ceremonies, military ceremonies and shopping, where a legal system is needed. It is seen that different sacred elements are used in these ceremonies, which are verbal, non-verbal, verbal and behavioral. These elements may include objects such as blood, wine, sword, holy book, as well as sacred natural elements such as water, stone, soil and sky. In this study, we will focus on Toprak Ferağı (land oath), which is considered to be one of the cultural laboratories of the Anatolian Turkish geography and is an oath-taking ceremony that we discovered recently and is located in Northeastern Çukurova, between Kadirli and Andırın.

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