Folklore of Kürse Village (1): Preface and Introduction to the Village

Foreword

When we were told we had to prepare a thesis, the first thing that came to mind was to undertake a compilation study. When I shared this idea with some of my teachers, they said it would be excellent, but that it would be rather difficult for me to get people to talk about the topics I had chosen, particularly those relating to birth and children. However, I was very fortunate; I would be conducting the compilation in my own village. I had grown up within this very community, whose folklore I was to collect and record. We knew each other very well. In this respect, establishing contact with people and obtaining information on the topics I was interested in was not particularly difficult.

Another major advantage for me was that I was living amidst the very customs and traditions I was researching. I, too, had grown up surrounded by the customs, beliefs and traditions I am trying to describe here—perhaps I had even experienced most of them myself. Consequently, I was no stranger to the subject I was tackling. I was more or less familiar with the customs and beliefs I have described. However, I must also point out that during my research, I came across subjects which, despite living amongst them, I was completely unaware of and which I found very interesting. To convey the daily life of the people in this community—from which I hail and in which I still live—by observing it, as far as possible, through the eyes of an outsider was, in a sense, both a pleasure and a duty for me.

Despite all these positive and rewarding aspects, there was one obstacle that placed me in a difficult position: the limited time available. For this reason, although I very much wished to do so, I was unable to delve into the customs surrounding marriage for fear of not being able to complete the work in time. I endeavoured to give prominence to traditions that are more faith-based and practical rather than those centred on oral narratives. Within this rather short period, I was able to produce this modest work. I shall be very happy if, with this small work—which is of great spiritual value to me—I can contribute even a single drop to the vast Sea of Turkish Folklore.

I feel it is my duty to thank my esteemed tutors, Haydar Deligöz and Sabiha Gemici, for their assistance with my work.

8 July 1982

İrfan Ünsal

Kürse Village

Kürse Village is a small village in the Yeniköy Sub-district, which is part of the Central District of Balıkesir Province. The village is situated 20 kilometres along the Balıkesir–Bursa road, 3 kilometres east of the main road.

The village is home to approximately 650–700 people. Almost the entire village population settled here after migrating from the Balkans following the Balkan Wars. It is said that there were once Yörük encampments in the vicinity of the village and that a few households are descended from them. It is evident from some ancient foundation remains found in the area that the site on which the village stands was once an ancient settlement. Indeed, it is believed that the village’s name originated from a legend associated with these foundations.

According to the elders, there used to be another village on this site during the time of the Greeks, and that village also had a church. (The site of the church is indicated as a threshing floor at the entrance to the village. It is even said that, right up until recent times, remains of building foundations in the form of bricks and stones were unearthed here.) One of the Greeks in the village stammered. As he could not bring himself to say the word ‘church’—which everyone else used to refer to the place of worship—he called it ‘kürse’. It is said that, as everyone found this man’s pronunciation of ‘kürse’ rather endearing, the village has been known as Kürse ever since.

In the village, dry farming and livestock rearing are practised side by side. Every household, to a greater or lesser extent, owns land and keeps both large and small livestock. As there is insufficient land for farming, livestock rearing is just as important. Sheep and cattle are the most commonly reared animals.

The village is connected to the Balıkesir–Bursa road via a 3 km-long road. Although the village has telephone connections via a single exchange, it still has no electricity. The village’s biggest problem at present is the lack of electricity. It has a primary school, a mosque, a village café and a dairy. Although the drinking water supply was secured in 1967 by the YSE and the villagers through the expansion of existing fountains, it remains insufficient. The building originally constructed as a Qur’an study centre is occasionally used for mobile courses (such as sewing and carpet-making) organised by the Community Education Centre. At the primary school, literacy courses—launched to mark the 100th anniversary of Atatürk’s birth, as is the case throughout the country—are still ongoing and are attracting considerable interest from the villagers.

The village is quite rich in terms of folklore. In particular, customs relating to children and traditions associated with folk medicine remain very much alive.

Thank you

It would have seemed ungrateful to me to conclude this thesis without expressing my gratitude here to certain villagers who were of great assistance to me in gathering the necessary information. For this reason, I feel it is my duty to thank, first and foremost, my sister Pembegül Ünsal, as well as Hanife Han, Hanife Tarhan, Sabriye Çoban, Ayşe Çetin, Pakize Çetin, Celali Özcan, Mustafa Taşdemir and all the others who assisted me.

I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to my esteemed former teacher, Erbuğ Gülsoy, one of our school’s former teachers, who never hesitated to offer me any kind of assistance.

İrfan Ünsal
Balıkesir Necatibey Higher Teacher Training College
Department of Turkish Language and Literature

Class 4/A, No. 4002

All episodes of the series

1. Foreword and Introduction to the Village
2. Customs Relating to Birth and Children
3. Folk Medicine
4. Superstitions and Folk Meteorology
5. Proverbs, Blessings and Curses
6. Folk Songs, Lamentations and Nursery Rhymes
7. Legends and Riddles
8. Fairy Tales
9. Rhymes and Ramadan Rhymes

Traditions and Customs page