Author(s): Mustafa ÃZTÃRK
Mawlid ceremonies organized to celebrate the birth of our Prophet are celebrated in Islamic societies since the early years of Islam. Muslim societies have organized the Mawlid ceremonies for various occasions over time and have added traditional rituals to these ceremonies by including folkloric rituals. It has been determined that mostly Kurdish mawlids are preferred depending on the distribution ratio in the population. The first finding of this field study conducted for determining the features of the mawlid ceremonies in Mardin, which is a cosmopolitan city containing the combination of various ethnical, cultural and religious structures altogether in itself, is that Kurdish, Turkish and Arabic mawlids are chanted in ceremonies depending on the ethnic diversity in the city. It is observed that the mawlid ceremonies in Mardin are mostly organized as the expression of appreciation for any event or to provide relief for the distressing issues as well as for such things as birth, death, marriage. Among all these reasons, more attention is paid to the Mawlid ceremonies organized for death and funeral. The findings obtained in this study embody the determinations such as mawlid is mostly chanted by religious officials, it has religious motives, but it is widely accepted as traditional ceremonies, the mawlids where the meals are served are more common and acceptable and mawlid is seen as an important means of enhancing social cohesion, unity and sense of belonging.
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