Abstract:

When the myths and epics of different societies are examined, the existence of supernatural beings, good, bad, night and day, sun and moon themed legends in the past of almost every society is striking. Nardugan celebrations, which is a pre-Islamic Turkish tradition, is one of them. With its formal and practical features, the Christmas Feast is very similar to the Nardugan festival celebrated by the ancient Turks as the feast of rebirth. It is seen that these celebrations are mentioned in different meanings in Turkish societies. Many factors such as the fact that different religions were preferred over time after the migrations caused these celebrations to disappear gradually. In order not to destroy the cultures, the Nardugan festival, which has been celebrated in a festive atmosphere since 2010 in Gündoğan town of Bodrum district of Muğla, is repeated by the local people every year. Societies do not know or even do not accept that most of the beliefs and celebrations exist with the old belief system. However, many practices belonging to ancient Turkish beliefs are still kept alive in Anatolia with all their vitality. In this context, this is a descriptive study and the contents of the data obtained by scanning the relevant literature are analyzed and interpreted in the conclusion section. The questions of Where does the Nardugan festival first appear?, How is the Nardugan festival celebrated? , and Is the Nardugan festival still celebrated today? questions were determined as sub-objectives.

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