TRADITIONAL MALE RITUALS IN BURSA WEDDINGS: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON THREE REPRESENTATIVE PRACTICES

Abstract

This study aims to trace local cultural codes through three traditional practices representative of wedding customs specific to the Bursa region. Weddings function not only as a social institution marking the transition into marriage but also as ritual spaces where gender roles, local values, and collective identities are reproduced. Within this context, the research focuses on three male-specific traditional practices identified through fieldwork in the region: Danışık Night, Henna Fire and Requesting the Hive, and Male Henna Festivities. Through these traditional elements, it is demonstrated that weddings serve not only as individual rites of passage but also play a significant role in social solidarity, cultural transmission, and identity construction. These three male-oriented practices in Bursa embody functions such as solidarity, humor, symbolic competition, and communal belonging, thereby rendering the social dimensions of male transition visible. Danışık Night, as a social entertainment organized among the groom’s close circle, alleviates social tensions through traditional humorous elements; meanwhile, Hive Requesting and Henna Fire stand out as ritual-based acts of demand and power assertion performed by the groom’s party toward the bride’s household. Male henna festivities, distinct from the female-centered henna night, create a male-exclusive space of entertainment, reinforcing boundaries related to gender roles. This article analyzes these practices within the framework of social structure and cultural continuity and interprets them through a cultural analysis approach.