The Belief in Cursing by Throwing Ash: The Ardahan Example

Abstract

In the studies on Turkic culture, ash has not been thoroughly examined, and it has generally been associated with beliefs related to the cult of fire and hearth. When the beliefs formed around ash in Turkic societies are examined, it is seen that ash is used as a means of purifying, healing, cleansing, and transmitting prayers and curses that are desired to reach God, like fire, and for this reason, it has been regarded as a remnant of fire to this day. Which contains many cultural meanings, it has been manifested in our language with the help of oral culture products such as idioms, prayers, curses, epics, and tales. In Turkic societies, taboos related to ash exist, such as “do not pour ash out late,” “do not step on ash,” “do not scatter ash,” and “do not pour water on ash.” In this study, ash in the form of a curse (kargış), which is part of the oral culture of Ardahan, has been analyzed in a cultural dimension. In order to reach God, people who are in pain or who are very desperate throw the ash to the sky by turning to the qibla, and the curse that is sincerely pronounced afterward is considered the most feared curse in the region, both to utter and to be subjected to. The people of the region were frightened by the fact that people who were desperate and hurt a lot chose ash to communicate with God as soon as possible and to show that they were hurting, and it was believed that curses cast from the earth would be answered immediately. Today, this form of cursing, which is not easily used by the local people, is feared due to the negative results experienced in the past. Cursing toward the sky can be interpreted as a continuation of the belief in the “Gök Tanrı”. The fact that the curse is made by turning towards the qibla shows that the practice has been reshaped under the influence of Islam. The fact that it was especially done by fathers to their male children in the region to prevent them from having children suggests that ash is associated with lineage. It is seen that this curse is usually used by fathers against children who leave their homes.