ANIMALS IN RAINMAK？NG RITUALS OF ARDAHAN REGION

The human, who is depend on the soil, needed water throughout the history for the continuity of life and fell in despair in its absence. Humanity has seen situations such as thirsty, usually as a result of his own mistakes or the sins they have committed, and therefore various taboo and avoidance were improved by humanity. Humanity have applied to a variety of religiosity and enchantment practices so as to avoid or be protected God's punishments by the forces of nature. In rural societies which have a livelihood depending on agriculture and animal husbandry, natural events are more important than urban society and the practices against the disasters in today's village societies have traces of primitive period. Ardahan, which maintains its livelihood with a large proportion of livestock, has been developed many religious belief and practices related to natural phenomena due to drought or extreme rain that is the most important factor affecting human life negatively. In question the beliefs and practices are towards to raining or stopping the rain. Rainfall rituals are performed frequently in Ardahan, as in almost all regions of the Turkish world. The use of animals in Ardahan rain rituals has a special place. In Ardahan, in addition to sacrificing to raining and stop rain, there are also applications including the other animals such as dogs, donkeys, frogs and ticks. In this study, the information will be given on the basis of the current data obtained from field studies about the rain rituals in the Ardahan region and the rain rituals where the animals are located at the center will be considered and interpreted in terms of their origins and structural features