Milli Folklor

Öz

Human beings have been in a constant search and struggle to stay healthy, protect themselves from diseases, and get rid of physical and mental illnesses since their existence on earth. As a result of all the efforts made in the name of health, an area called folk medicine has emerged today, with thousands of years of knowledge, experience, and accumulation. Although there are different names such as traditional medicine, alternative medicine, medical anthropology, folk medicine, and village medicine, the term folk medicine is generally used more frequently today. Folk medicine has an important place in Turkish folklore due to its characteristics such as being transmitted orally from generation to generation, containing physical and mental treatments together, and having belief-based and multifaceted rituals in practices. People generally prefer folk medicine to treat - especially mental - illnesses they suffer from, in order to avoid negative reactions from society or when there is no cure found in modern medicine. The most important figure in folk medicine is the "ocak". The treatments are performed by people who have taken permission or are allowed to practice in the ocaks, which can take names according to the methods used to treat certain diseases or the name of the disease. These people are generally referred to as "ocaklı". Ocaks/ocaklıs perform healing processes by using the knowledge and experiences they have acquired from the people they have seen and learned from, as well as their own experiences and the practices that have provided positive responses to their experience. These healing procedures are classified under different titles according to their methods and techniques. Psychicallyoriented treatments that do not directly relate to the body and aim to affect the patient are called "ırvasa yoluyla yapılan sağaltma"; treatments performed by drawing, piercing, tearing, cutting or hitting the patient's body are called "parpılama yoluyla yapılan sağaltmalar"; and treatments performed using religious methods, substances and tools are called "dinsel yolla yapılan sağaltmalar" (healing by religious means).There are also healing methods that are made with plant, animal, and mineral-based extracts. These healing methods performed by "ocaklıs" are essentially a cultural element inherited from the ancient Turkish belief of shamanism and the shaman practitioners. Considering aspects such as disease diagnosis, treatment procedures, materials used in treatment, and prayer words/formulas spoken, it can be seen that the "ocaklıs" continued their folk medicine duty in Anatolia after Islamization, with the characteristics of the shamans. This situation shows that Turkish cultural elements can survive even in the face of religious influences, sometimes finding their place in the same or different forms, especially in the case of "ocaklar." However, the healing practices of "ocaks" which are a sub-branch of folk medicine, in the research area of folklore are based on the personal, social, and verbal dimensions, and thus are performance/execution-based. One of these types of "ocaks" is the "Bulamaç Atma Ocağı”. In terms of the steps taken in the practice, Bulamaç Atma Ocağı is extremely important in terms of not being able to detect anything similar in the studies conducted on folk medicine so far. In this study, information about the healing method of "Bulamaç Atma Ocağı" located in the Derebucak district of Konya was provided. After information was gathered from oral sources about which patients applied to the ocak, the identification of the ocak that would treat them, the materials used for healing, and the steps taken in the practice, the relationship between the ritual applied and Turkish culture, cults, motifs, and shamanism was examined within the scope of archaic elements. It was analyzed in relation to functional and contextual folklore theories.