Traditions of Tatar (Ethnographic Vocabulary)

Abstract

Veli Bulatov, about whom we know only as a teacher, wrote this article to remind the youth of the past, that is the traditions that were forgotten as a result of the political and social changes that took place in the twentieth century. In this article, which we have translated into Turkey Turkish, the ethnographic vocabulary of the Tatar people is included. These are original words that cannot be translated into another language with a single word. For example, the word ḳuray is not simply “flute” or “ney”, it is an ethnographism that cannot be translated but can be made intelligible by definition, and can be conveyed as “a wind musical instrument usually made from the stems of plants with a pipe stem”. In the article, there are many traditions about birth and marriage, which are important periods of human life. In addition to this, rich food culture, communal feasts and dinner invitations for entertainment are remarkable. Refreshments are plentiful at all invitations, but both the inviter and the guest know very well how all the food is appreciated, how it is saved, and how it is prepared. Apart from this, the avlaḳ öy ‘‘secluded house” where girls and boys are allowed to have fun in the same house, törtkě botḳası ‘‘warning rice” it is made to warn guests who are still sitting even though they have to go, tañ suvı ‘‘tan water” take to raise mentally and physically healthy children, bökrě yazuv ‘‘hunchback fate” it is believed that if a person doing business passes by without help, his/her future spouse will become a grumpy hunchback, sınamaḳ saban tuyı ‘‘harvest festival made for test” to test whether the wrestlers, runners, and racehorses of their own village can cope with the racers of another village on the big harvest feast, ḳaz ömesi ‘‘collective work for goose” made with the help everyone and many more traditions are included in the article.