Abstract:

Nature has a distinct place among people as a notion that is alive. Therefore, it was protected with great care; and it was believed to bring negativities on people in terms of belief once it was destroyed. While natural events are considered to be beneficent, they are sometimes interpreted as a warning from God. The reason why people have such a belief is that they could not analyze natural events from a scientific perspective sufficiently. Such being the case, many public beliefs occurred about the natural events; and they brought several practices along with them. These beliefs, being metamorphosed by time, geography and various religious notions, have survived until today. As for the belief systems among Turks, it could be said that they occurred within the old belief systems. While some of them were forged by Islam, the others have survived in the same form until today. It is possible to see the public beliefs, which provide some clues about the way societies regard life, the cultures they were affected by and so on, almost in every Turkish community. This study will include the public believes and practices among the Turks of Karapapak and Terekeme. It will analyze the similarities and differences between the understanding of nature and public beliefs of Karapapak- Terekeme Turks and the ones that belong to the other Turks living in different regions. It will also touch upon how the public beliefs came into being and their mythological dimensions. Besides, it should be noted that the compilations taking place in this study were taken from the Karapapak- Terekeme Turks who live in Selim providence of Kars. Key Wods: Nature, Karapapak, Terekeme, Public beliefs, Mythology

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