TRACES OF THE MOUNTAIN CULT IN OLD TURKISH BELIEFS AND PRACTICES IN ERZINCAN

Abstract

Nature has always attracted interest for the old Turkish people and has come to the fore with its mysteries. For this reason, it is thought that care has been taken in respect of nature and that the wrong actions against nature will lead to some negative and catastrophic events. Natural phenomena are often interpreted as God's messages to people in the eyes of humans. These messages are sometimes described as a reward and sometimes punishment. There is also the sky within these beings, which human beings have considered sacred and sacred since their existence. With great admiration and respect for the sky, people believed that godlike beings lived in the sky. Given the proximity of the mountains to the sky, the mountains have been seen as both a God and the place where the gods live/reside. This sanctity, which is installed in the mountains, causes us to see different beliefs in many legends and epic texts, with the mountains at its center. The belief that the mountains are the pillars that keep the world afloat, that they connect the three realms consisting of the underworld, the Earth and the sky, that they are the place of the gods and that they are living beings is just a few of them. İn this study, the reflections of Erzincan mountain cult especially Turkish world and mountain cults along the beliefs formed by mountain cults will be examined