Abstract:

The mani, which is in the Turkish folk literature circle, is among the verse literary texts widely seen in the Turkish world. Mani has been handled from various aspects in the studies on the subject. It is accepted that mani is a distinctive type and form of verse, which has its own rhyme and melodic style. Mani is also used to reinforce meaning in different types of folk literature. Traditionally, mani, which is based on oral creativity, is one of the areas of social memory. In this context, mani carries environmental and cultural indicators related to the society to which it belongs. In this article, the socio-cultural environment reflected in the mani of Kilis region has been examined and evaluated. In the article, Kilis mani, which are considered as one of the memory-based recording and transmission forms of the oral cultural environment, contain important data. The subject of the article is the analysis of these data with a text-centered perspective. In the article, it is aimed to make environmental and cultural reading about the region through the Kilis mani. The literature on the subject was searched, and the mani was collected from the verbal culture environment in Kilis center by interview method. In addition, samples of mani were collected by scanning the subject in written and electronic culture media. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis technique. In the article, the subjects of Kilis mani were determined as love, wedding, bride-mother-in-law contest, city, festival, job, military service, advice, food, fate, prayer-curse, praise and satire. It has been observed that traditional elements of Kilis folk culture were used extensively in the mani. The environmental and cultural characteristics of Kilis are reflected in the poems in terms of place names, marriage traditions, intent and wishes, agricultural activities in the region, cuisine culture, various tools, dialects and vocabulary. As a result, it has been determined and evaluated that Kilis mani are important social memory areas that reflect the traditional culture and enable the transfer of this culture to future generations.

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