A DRAMATIC VILLAGE PLAYS HARBENGERIN SPRING IN IRANIAN TURKS: KOSE-GELIN

A DRAMATIC VILLAGE PLAYS HARBENGERIN SPRING IN IRANIAN TURKS: KOSE-GELIN

In the calendar elections of Turks, who have used various calendars based on solar and lunar calendars from past to present, accepted religions were as effective as political sovereignty. For this reason, in Turkish communities that have accepted Islam today, religious days and ceremonies are based on the Hijri calendar, and on other cultural days, calendars based on the solar year. The most well-known of these days is Nawruz. Among the Oghuz Turks, “Çille” days celebrated outside of this day can also be considered in this context. As in “Büyük Çille” celebrated on December 21, there are various rituals in the “Küçük Çille” celebrated on January 29. The most well-known of these is the “Köse-Gelin” game. Although the number of players varies in the “Köse-Gelin” game played among Turks living in various regions of Iran, it is mostly performed by six players named Köse, Gelin, Davulcu, Torbacı, Kara Köse and Ak Köse. While discussing how, when and for what purpose this play was played, the characteristics of the clothes worn in the performance of this play, in which the actors won a pragmatic award, the content of the poems recited and the symbolic meanings of the theatrical/dramatic roles were examined, as well as a cultural transfer. There are certain functions in this game, in which the old year, which basically symbolizes winter, weakens and dies, and the arrival of the new year, which symbolizes fertility, is celebrated. It has been evaluated in the context of the functions of culture, which was adapted to folklore and systematized by William R. Bascom, and it has been seen that functions such as entertainment, supporting social values, education, transferring culture and freedom from pressure are important in the sustainability of this game. In addition, this game took on a different function by being played during the raining ceremony. Finally, as with many elements of oral culture, this game plays an important role in the preservation and transfer of the cultural identity of Iranian Turks to the future.