Bitlis Folk Culture in Travelogue of Evliya Celebi

Travelogues are important sources for folklore as they carry data relating to many disciplines such as geography, history, sociology, religion, and literature, besides containing several cultural values belonging to folk culture. In the travelogues being one of those sources, many values of folklore can be uncovered and examined in them. In our study the significance of Evliya Celebi Travelogue for Bitlis and region; and for folklore as a discipline is evaluated. As part of his travels he had carried out in the 17th century, Evliya Celebi indited his impressions about Bitlis and region which is one of the important ancient areas. He puts on record the historical, cultural, social and natural values of Bitlis, besides traditions, several values and maket hem reach today. In this study which we carried out in the sections related to Bitlis in the 3rd and 4th volumes of the Travelogue, many folkloric elements, information are determined in the context of time and place. Those findings can be examined under many titles such as “language-expression”, “folk narratives”, “anonymous poet”, “birth-marriage-death beliefs”, “folk medicine”, “folk cuisine”, “folk architecture”, “folk calendar”, “festives-celebrations”, “dreeses-clothing”. As a result, it is concluded that Travelogue contains noteworthy knowledge about 17th century Bitlis folklore and folk culture, and this information is an important valuable source for social sciences and field studies