Hıdırellez Geleneğindeki Cadı İnancı: Balkanlar ve Anadolu Örneği - Witch Faıth ın Hıdırellez Tradition: The Balkans and Anatolia

The arrival of spring has been seen as important and celebrated in hunting, gathering and agricultural societies. The arrival of spring is celebrated throughout the Turkish World and continues to exist in cultural memory. Hıdırellez holiday, which is the celebration of the arrival of spring among the Turks, is a celebration where many beliefs, rituals and traditions are kept alive. For example, prayers are made for many wishes to come true such as increasing the fertility of the house, receiving a marriage proposal, owning a house, finding a job, being healthy, being rich, being successful, having plenty of crops, and prayers are expected to come true for a year. Many applications that are thought to bring jinx are also avoided. These beliefs about Hıdırellez are kept alive by rituals and narratives. The Balkans is a region where the Hıdırellez tradition is kept alive. It is seen that there are many practices to increase the fertility and for wishes to come true, as well as some beliefs and practices to be protected from the witches and legends and memorates are told to make sense of these practices. In our study, examples of the beliefs of the Turks living in Bulgaria, Moldava and Macedonia in the Balkans about the witches in the Hıdırellez festival and examples of the beliefs of the Turks living in Anatolia about the witches in the Hıdırellez festival will be given. The fact that the Turkish Hıdırellez tradition is fed from many sources and the importance of legends, memorates and practices in the continuation of the tradition will be evaluated.