Rites for the holy visits and feast – rituals in Anatolien gypsies

Abstract

Visiting places and festal practices have taken place in all societies for very long years. These are the practices directly related to the “holy time and place” concept indispensable to mythology likewise. However, this matter bears qualities beyond mythos. Gypsies in Turkey have largely joined into settled life. There are still those partially or wholly living as nomads. Gypsies pursuing settled life vastly pay visits to tombs, graves and other visiting places in their area for visitation purposes as they have adopted the Sunni Islam belief. They also have locations only they visit. In Yusufeli, Artvin, “Hafız Poşa Tomb” is visited by the local gypsies in all feasts without fail. “Cüro Baba Tomb” in Kasımpaşa, Istanbul "Father Evliya Ethem Tomb" in Sulukule, "Toklu Dede" in Çinardibi, “Cibali Hazretleri” in Küçükmustafapaşa and "Kandilli Hodja" in Tokmaktepe are the vivid examples of some visiting places gypsies in Istanbul show interest today as well as in the past.   I would like to present this study based on my own research and experience between the years 1996-2000.

Key words: feast, visitation, gypsy, holy place, holy time.