CULTURAL TRACES OF A TRADITION: IZMIR TIRE DISTRICT “ŞEMSİYE DÜZME” TRADITION

Abstract

This study, which is about the "şemsiye düzme" tradition in Tire district of Izmir, is a descriptive study prepared using a single case research model and based on interview, observation and literature review data. Marriage customs in Izmir are among the traditions that continue to be practiced in their most vibrant form today. Marriage customs include various practices performed before, during and after the wedding ceremony.

The dowry prepared by the girls to be married with the support of their family and close circle is considered important and continues to be kept alive as a continuation of a deep-rooted tradition. This article contains information based on literature review data about wedding traditions and dowry customs in Turkish culture, and examines the " şemsiye düzme" custom, which is a gift-giving and dowry custom specific to Izmir Tire district.

The "şemsiye düzme" tradition, which we identified through observation, camera detection and face-to-face interviews with five source people during the field research we conducted in the Tire district of Izmir province on 10.12.2020 and 19.12.2022, is a gift-giving and dowry practice specific to the Tire district. No other example of the practice was found in our field studies that we have carried out intermittently since 2011 in the region located on the Western Anatolian coastline, including Izmir province. The "şemsiye düzme" tradition, which does not exist in the surrounding provinces of Izmir or even in other districts of Izmir, is a folkloric element that we observe in the Tire district and is on the verge of extinction today. This study not only provides information about the "şemsiye düzme" tradition through today's practices, but also is a study in which the cultural traces of the tradition, which we think bears traces of old Turkish belief and social life, are questioned and interpreted.