Hıdrellez
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Hıdrellez (name variants: Hıdırlez , Hıdırellez , Hederlez , Edirlez ) is a spring festival that is celebrated on May 6, mainly among various Turkic peoples . The date of the festival corresponds to April 23rd and thus St. George's Day of the Julian calendar . The name for the festival goes back to a combination of the names of the two saints al-Chidr and Elias , who according to tradition should meet regularly on this day. The UNESCO has 2017 end of the Hıdrellez hard in Turkey and in northern Macedonia in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity added. The Hıdrellez hard is not the same in principle Chidir-Liyās hard the Yazidis to be confused, which is celebrated in February.
distribution
In Turkey , the festival is spread across Anatolia . It is celebrated both by the Sunni Turks and by Shiite groups such as the Alevis and Tahtacı . In addition, the Hıdrellez festival is widespread among the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine and Dobruja , the Gagauz in the Republic of Moldova and the Muslims in North Macedonia and Kosovo . The Roma living on the Balkan Peninsula also celebrate the festival and sing about it with their folk song Ederlezi . While in Kosovo the festival is celebrated in towns and villages, in Anatolia it is limited to the rural areas.
As a result of migration movements, the Hıdrellez Festival has now also arrived in German-speaking countries. In the state treaty concluded in 2012 between the city of Hamburg and the Alevi community in Germany, it is recognized as an Alevi holiday.
Calendar meaning
Agreement with St. George's Day
Before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Turkey, the Hıdrellez festival was celebrated on April 23rd and thus corresponds to St. George's Day . The agreement between the two days was already confirmed by the Byzantine emperor John VI. Kantakuzenos (died 1383) observed. In one of his apologetic works, he explains that St. George “is also venerated by the Muslims, but by whom he is called Χετηρ 'Hλίαζ.” In the Orthodox churches, which still adhere to the Julian calendar , the dates are still consistent today further.
Hıdrellez as a year divider in the Turkish folk calendar
Hıdrellez day is considered the beginning of summer time in the Turkish folk calendar, which extended from this day to November 7th (julian. October 26th), the so-called Kasım day. That is why November is also called Kasım in Turkish. The division of the year with the help of these two dates, Chidr and Kasım days, can be traced back a long way using Ottoman archive sources. It goes back to an old folk calendar that can be traced back to different cultures, which is based on the heliacal rise and fall of the Pleiades .
With the help of the data of the early rise and early sunset of the Pleiades, the year was divided astronomically into two sections, summer and winter, even in ancient times. According to Hesiod , the farmer should start harvesting when the Pleiades rose early and plowing when the early sunset. The use of the Pleiades to determine the calendar made sense because, in contrast to the equinoxes in spring and autumn , their rising and setting could not only be calculated, but also easily observed. The two most important dates of the course of the Pleiades, early sunset and late sunrise, were also included in the Byzantine- Christian calendar as St. George's Day (April 23) and Demetrius Day (October 26) and still fulfilled the same function of dividing the year there.
For the early Turks of Central Asia, the observation of the Pleiades also played an essential role in the regular adjustment of the lunar calendar to the solar year. According to Louis Bazin, both dates, Kasım and Hıdrellez, go back to the old Turkish Pleiades calendar, which was later mixed with the Greek-Christian tradition of dividing the year among the Anatolian Turks.
Duration
The actual Hıdrellez day is May 6th, the night before that is Hıdrellez Night. In Kosovo, the celebrations begin on the morning of May 5th. In the Dobruja, several acts are only performed on the Friday after the festival called Hıdırlez Cuması or Tepreš. The domestic preparations for the festival start a long time in advance (in Kosovo one month). Money is set aside for the necessary expenses.
imaginations
Meeting of Chidr and Elias
In general, the festival is based on the idea that Chidr and Elias hold an annual meeting on the Hıdrellez night. The place where the two figures meet is, according to popular belief, a rose bush. To ensure your own health, you should therefore tie one of your personal items or the hair of your head or beard to a branch of roses on the Hıdrellez night before dawn, while at the same time saying a prayer formula. In the vicinity of Bursa, the individual family members mark their money, put it in a bag and hang it on a rose bush that night or put it at its root. The next day everyone takes their money out of the bag and puts it back in their own wallet. Those who participate in this custom should never run into financial difficulties in their life.
According to another tradition, the meeting of Chidr and Elias should take place somewhere on the coast, that is, where the sea and the mainland meet. Yaşar Kemal , who created a literary memorial to this festival in his novel Bin Boğalar Efsanesi , published in 1971 , gives a picture of the ideas surrounding the Hidrellez Night:
“That night, Elias, the patron saint of the sea, and Hizir, the patron saint of the mainland, will meet. Since the beginning of time it has always been that night, once a year. Should they fail in a year, the seas would no longer be seas and the land would no longer be land. The seas would be without waves, without light, without fish, without colors and would dry up. In the country no flowers would bloom, no more birds and bees would fly, the wheat would no longer sprout, the brooks would no longer flow, rain would not fall, and women, mares, she-wolves, insects, everything that flies and crawls there, Birds, all creatures would become sterile. If they don't meet, the two of them ... then Hizir and Elias become harbingers of the Last Judgment. "
Hıdrellez as a Chidr festival
Although Hıdrellez actually consists of two names, almost all of the ideas associated with this festival refer to Chidr alone. He is supposed to bestow salvation and blessings on the places he roams on Hıdrellez night. According to popular belief, he also visits people's homes at Hıdrellez. For this reason one tries to use different methods in order to have what is food, drink, belongings and belongings in the houses blessed by him. For example, vessels with food, storage spaces and purses are left unlocked. House and garden are cleaned thoroughly because, according to general belief, Chidr does not go to unclean houses. In some areas the houses are even being whitewashed all around. Clothes must also be clean and tidy. Family fathers usually buy new clothes and shoes for their wives and children for the Hıdrellez festival.
After the Hıdrellez days, it is common to hear some stories that Chidr visited this or that house or performed certain miracles. Usually, some people stay up on Hıdrellez night until morning, hoping to have an encounter with Chidr and receive his blessings, walking in fields and meadows or spending the time in devotion and prayer.
In the Ottoman Empire , the Hıdrellez festival was usually just called Rūz-i Ḫızır (Chidr day) . The Ottoman Sufi İsmail Hakkı Bursevî (d. 1725) explicitly relates this festival to the vegetative power of al-Chidr. He wrote in one of his works:
“ Chidr comes from ḫuḍra , which means 'green'. It is the nickname of Balyān b. Malkān ... who drank from the source of life. One day Balyā sat on the dry earth. Since this place came under the influence of his life, turned green and filled with freshness, it was given the nickname Chidr . Later it became a personal name for the sake of blessings, and the fact that the well-known day in the middle of spring is called Rūz-i Ḫızır also comes from this. Because in these days the green plants will grow strong, the flowers will open and the dry, dead earth will find new life. "
Customs
Feasts and celebrations
In many areas of Anatolia it is a custom to slaughter a lamb for the Hıdrellez festival and use it to prepare a feast for family and friends. Usually some of the food is also sent to the families of the poor. The Anatolian Alevis a place on Hıdrellez tag Semah instead. One visits the graves of the relatives and brings food for their "spirits" ( ruhlar ) with. Various Bektaschi poets wrote special poems for Hıdrellez Day.
Customs for wish fulfillment
Many will at Hıdrellez usually supplications spoken, for prayers spoken on that day will always be answered by popular belief. Those who want something go into the garden on Hıdrellez night and do imitative magic: if they want a house, they build a model of a house, if they want a field or a garden, they work the ground in one place, peg Green stuff in and create the model of the garden. When you want money, cut small, round pieces of paper and put them in a bag. With these symbols they communicate their wishes to Chidr. So that the expressed wishes come true, one gives alms and speaks vows ( adak ). These vows are to be made “at Chidr” ( Hızır hakkı için ). In different areas of Anatolia it is customary to convey one's wishes to the Chidr over the water. Everyone writes on a piece of paper the things they want or wish to achieve in their life. Later he throws it into a stream, the sea or a river, depending on where it is. In some coastal areas people even go out to sea in boats and scatter the notes on the waves so that they can get to Chidr more quickly, who then, according to the belief, makes the wishes come true.
Oracle customs
In the vicinity of Balıkesir , Bursa and Bergama , a dough is made with the juice of unripe berries on Hıdrellez morning and divided into two lumps, one of which is “yes dough” ( Var Hamuru ), the other “no dough” ( Yok Hamuru ) is called. You then observe which of the two lumps of dough rises faster and then decide whether or not you should make certain purchases this year. An onion oracle is also widespread, in which two onion stalks are marked with threads on the eve of Hıdrellez day, and in the morning it is seen which of the two stalks has grown more. Accordingly, the year should be good or bad.
Almost all over Anatolia, as well as the Turks of North Macedonia and Kosovo, an oracle custom called martifal is widespread. For this, on the afternoon of May 5th, young girls carry a large pot from door to door and ask the women to put one of their objects (ring, earring, etc.) in the pot and think of a wish. Later the pot is filled with water. In some areas flowers or herbs are also put in the pot or, after the pot has been closed with a cloth, placed over it. Finally the pot is placed under a rose bush. Chidr, it is believed, comes over at night and answers the wishes. On Hıdrellez morning, the women gather in a house and bring in the pot. They drink milk or latte and put a little girl next to the pot. Then supplications are said to Chidr. While the little girl begins to pull the individual objects out of the pot, the women present speak Mani poems. From the mani that is recited when pulling out a certain object, one interprets the future fate of the woman to whom the object belongs. The procedure continues until the girl has taken out all the objects from the pot.
All these oracle customs are based on the idea that Hıdrellez night and Hıdrellez morning are sacred times that enable people, when performing certain rituals, to receive answers to questions about their own future from Chidr, who is considered to be omniscient.
Magical herbs
In Kosovo, fresh twigs are cut from the trees on the evening of May 5th and then water is drawn from a spring with kettles. The following day the fresh branches are boiled in the spring water in the morning. The children are then washed with this water. In Western Anatolia, field flowers collected on Hıdrellez Day and then brewed are considered a cure for all types of disease. If one rubs some of this water on the eyes forty days before sunrise, it is said to give youth, beauty and a long life. Pastries baked with herbs collected on that day are considered a remedy for any kind of pain. In other areas, different types of herbs are collected, tied to the scraps of fabric from a piece of clothing that has already been worn, and then nailed to the inside wall of one's own stove or fireplace. In the same way, yoghurt that was made with freshly milked milk and rennet on Hıdrellez night is considered particularly healthy and is often used as a basis for making other yoghurt.
Vegetation and fertility
Since it is generally believed that Chidr's blessing power permeates the entire plant world on Hıdrellez night, the celebrations take place on the following day outdoors under trees and on green spaces. Various games are also held in the open air. Couples, friends, relatives meet and have fun together. These pleasures, known as eğlence , play a major role on Hıdrellez Day and are very old: They were mentioned as early as the 16th century in a fatwa by Sheikh al-Islām Mehmed Ebussuud Efendi (d. 1572). A Hıdrellez rite common in Western Anatolia consists of lying down in the meadows and rolling on them.
In Anatolia there is also a custom that the male head of the household leads a calf around the pantry early in the morning on Hıdrellez day and then gives him bread to eat. When the ritual is performed, the year in question should be blessed. The calf in this case is an embodiment of the grain spirit .
The relationship between the sexes also plays a certain role in the customs of the Hıdrellez festival. Since its celebrations are traditionally considered the best opportunity to initiate engagements and weddings, young women and men in particular take part. In the vicinity of Yozgat , where Hıdrellez Eğrice is called, the young men send clothes, food and a decorated lamb called Eğricelik to their fiancés that day . A legend recorded in Halkalı gives this event a mythical background. After that, the two characters after whom the festival is named were lovers: Hıdr a young man and Ellez a girl. The two could not get together for long until they finally met on the night of May 5th. They then died for the joy of their union.
Customs to ensure health
According to a popular belief in Bergama , those who step into the water on Hıdrellez night gain immunity from disease because of the sacredness of the waters on that night. In the Samsun area , people go to the beach on Hıdrellez morning and fill a vessel with sea water. This water is then sprayed inside houses, which are to be blessed by it.
Another common custom on Hıdrellez Day is jumping over the Hıdrellez fire, which is used to burn bulky household rubbish and undergrowth. As protection against the Evil Eye and to maintain health, one jumps over this fire several times and says certain Tekerleme poems and prayers. Even the sick take part in this rite, although they are helped. In some places the ashes are then picked up and the faces are coated with it. In contrast to many other Hıdrellez customs, this custom has no reference to the Chidr figure. In addition, a lot on Hıdrellez tag rocked . Whoever does not do this is said to have lower back pain.
literature
- Nedim Bakırcı: “Hıdırellez And A Forgotten Tradition In Niğde: The Niğde Fridays” in Journal of Turkish Studies 5/3 (2010) 855–864.
- PN Boratav: “ Kh iḍr-Ilyās” in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. V, p. 5.
- Patrick Franke : Meeting with Khidr. Source studies on the imaginary in traditional Islam. Beirut / Stuttgart 2000. pp. 167-175. Digitized
- Altan Gökalp: “Hızır, İlyās, Hıdrellez: Les Maîtres du temps, le temps des hommes” in Quand le crible était dans la paille: Hommage à PN Boratav . Paris 1978. pp. 211-231.
- Elena Marushiakova and Vesselin Popov: "The vanished kurban: modern dimensions of the celebration of Kakava / Hıdrellez among the Gypsies in Eastern Thrace (Turkey)" in Biljana Sikimić u. a. (Ed.): Kurban in the Balkans . - Belgrade: Institut des Etudes Balkaniques, 2007. ISBN 978-86-7179-054-3 . Pp. 33-50.
- Ahmet Yaşar Ocak: İslâm-Türk inançlarında Hızır Yahut Hızır-İlyas kältü. Türk Kültürü Araştırma Enstitüsü, Ankara, 1990.
- Ahmet Yaşar Ocak: “Hıdrellez” in Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm ansiklopedisi Vol. XVII, pp. 313b – 315b. Digitized
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Spring celebration, Hıdrellez
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 168.
- ↑ Treaty between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Alevi Congregation Germany eV Article 3, paragraph 1.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 159.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 83f.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 84.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 85.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, pp. 168f.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 169.
- ↑ Quotation from the German translation by H. Dagyeli-Bohne et al. Y. Dagyeli: The Song of the Thousand Bulls. Zurich 1997, p. 18.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 169.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 169f.
- ↑ Quotation in Franke: Encounter with Khidr . 2000, p. 83.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, pp. 168f.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 170.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 170.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, pp. 170f.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 171.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, pp. 171f.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 172.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 88.
- ^ Documents from Franke: Encounter with Khidr . 2000, p. 173.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 173.
- ^ Franke: Meeting with Khidr . 2000, p. 173.