The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations
53
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
53-56
10.37547/tajssei/Volume07Issue01-07
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
24 October 2024
ACCEPTED
22 December 2024
PUBLISHED
23 January 2025
VOLUME
Vol.07 Issue01 2025
CITATION
Selma Ozan Yujel. (2025). Symbolic meanings of white color in turkish folk
ceremony. The American Journal of Social Science and Education
Innovations, 7(01), 53
–
56.
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajssei/Volume07Issue01-07
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
Symbolic meanings of
white color in turkish folk
ceremony
Selma Ozan Yujel
Tashkent
State University of Oriental Studies, 2nd year master’s student,
Faculty of Turkish Studies, Linguistics, Uzbekistan
Abstract:
The concept of color is versatile in meaning.
In particular, the figurative meanings and symbolic uses
of colors vary from society to society and from person
to person. A world without color is unimaginable and
bleak. That is why there has never been a time when
colors did not fascinate humanity. Every civilation has
myths and associations about color. This article aims to
explain with examples the symbolic meaning of white
color in birth, wedding and mourning ceremonies,
which are stated as transition periods of life in Turkish
folklore.
Keywords:
Folklore, symbol, color, ceremony, ritual,
transition periods, white, birth, wedding, Dede Korkud,
death.
Introduction:
Life consists of a few steps, and these
steps are colored with various customs, traditions and
ceremonies. At these stages of life, we encounter many
ceremonies related to birth, wedding and death.
Customs, just like state laws, put our lives in order and
cause us to live a more meaningful life. The turning
points of life, which consist of birth, wedding and death,
are called the most important “transition periods” in
human life. Many customs, traditions and ceremonies
are clustered around these three important stages, each
of which is divided into several stages within itself, and
they manage the “transitions” in accordance with the
expectations of the culture to which they are affiliated.
According to S.V. Örnek, customs are a number of
exemplary attitudes and behaviors that are often
described as strict expectations of society [1, pp.123].
There are various rituals in Turkish culture. In Turkish
sources, many scholars have left their comments about
the ritual, symbol, and color term. In the great Turkish
dictionary, the formality is established and it has
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The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations
become a custom to do it, behavior related to
appearance and ostentation, road manners, rules of
honor, formalitiesare the explanations of the term
ceremony [2, pp.799].
The word symbol is defined as a sign, image, sound,
letter, abbreviation, etc. that brings to mind an idea,
thought, feeling, or makes one think of it [2, pp. 1081].
The fields of philosophy, physics, art, psychology and
lingvoculturalology are interested in colors. Each field
of science looks at color from different perspectives.
The field of linguo-cultural studies, along with the
study of a certain culture, studies everything related to
the culture, even the symbolic meaning of the colors
reflected in the culture. There is no culture whose
language, history, lifestyle and clothing have not been
learned. Along with the languages of each nation, the
signs and symbols they use in life are also learned.
Although there are many types of symbols, colors are
also considered a type of them. Just as the colors of the
national flag have their own meaning, the colors
displayed in national ceremonies also represent
certain symbolic meanings.
Uluışık says that it is possible to extract the most
original, intact and oldest information about the
human race from color elements, and that this
information shows that people’s color choice are not
random [3, pp. 489].
RESULTS
Turkish folk ceremonies are diverse and may differ in
style across the seven regions of Turkey. Wedding,
birth and mourning, which are described as transition
periods of life, contain many customs and traditions.
Life begins with birth and ends with death. During this
process, a person goes through many stages.
In addition to the fact that a person is wrapped in a
white blanket at birth, and the bride wears a white
dress at the wedding, there is definetely a symbolic
meaning behind the corpse being wrapped in a white
shroud.
According to Ögel B, “whiteness” in Turks means
cleanliness, purity and greatness. It is a symbol of the
greatness, justice and strength of the state. It is a color
of clothing worn by statesmen, especially in wars.
Moreover, he calls the color white “the main color” [4,
pp.377].
Birth, the first of three important transition periods,
has always been accepted among the public as a happy
event. The child who was born brought joy not only to
his/her parents but also to the relatives around
him/her. With birth, the women gains respect in the
family and the man begins to lokk to the future with
confidence.
The color white has always been loved by Turks from
past to present.“One of the white objects associated
with birth is considered to be fabric and is related to the
custom of swaddling. The fabric in which the newborn
baby is wrapped is usually white and its entire div,
including its head, is wrapped. In this state the baby
resembles a caterpillar in a cocoon. The baby’s face is
hidden with a white cloth until it is forty times over,”
says Özpınar B [5, pp. 596
-597].
In the Anatolian region, the first person who sees the
baby’s first tooth gives the baby various clothes as a gift.
Care is taken to ensure that the clothes are white. Thus,
the baby’s teeth are desired to appear like white pearls
[6, pp.174].
There are rituals not only related to the child, but also
related to the mother who recently has a child. For
example, in Kaleboğazı village, they believe that if a
pregnant woman’s face is spotted, she will have a girl,
and if her face is white, she will have a boy.
In the past, a midwife would come to the pregnant
woman’s house and predict the birth date of the woman
who would give birth, and when the time of birth
approached, she wold come home on Friday and check
the white birth bundle and swaddling clothes. The white
bundle would have been prepared by her mother-in-law
in advance [7, pp.2].
Wedding, which is considered the second of the
transition period is one of the most important
ceremonies that helps to understand a people’s
lifetsyle, a society’s perspective on life, and family
marriage relations. Wedding traditions, dating back to
ancient times, have always had an important place in
human life. By getting married, people start a new
phase of life and enter a new world. Marriage is
discussed under three headings: before marriage,
during marriage and after marriage [8, pp.39].
Those whose fortunes were closed before marriage try
to open their fortunes in various ways. According to
turkish customs, the wedding consists of many stages
such as asking for a girl, engagement, tying the sash and
henna night.
While marriage in the region is usually arranged,
marriages are increasing, especially in the city, as a
result of the spouses knowing and loving each other.
After a boy and a girl see each other in the region, the
boy’s family goes to the girl’s house.
When the bride comes to the bridegroom’s house, she
is made to sit on a white pumpkin so that her first child
will be a boy [9, pp.456].
The dress worn by the bride at the wedding ceremony is
always important and it is a matter of curiosity why it is
white. Stories from Dede Korkut provide information
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The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations
that Turks have been wearing white bridal gown at
weddings since ancient times.
“Beyregün yavuklusuna haber oldu. Banı Çiçek ağ
kaftanın çıkardı, karalar geydi. Güz alması gibi al
yanağını tartdı, yırtdı.”
N
ews came Beyrek’s fiancee. Bani Çiçek took off her
white caftan and wore black. She weighed her cheek,
red like an autumn apple, and tore it [10, pp.41]
Life begins with birth and ends with death. There are
many beliefs among the Turkish people regarding
death, which is the last stage, and many rituals related
to before and after human death. Preliminary
symptoms that make people think of death include
animals, household items, food, meteorological
events, dreams, and psychological or physiological
changes of the patient.
After the death, a series of procedures are applied to
the dead div until it is buried. This procedures
consist of religious and traditional customs and beliefs.
All of these are done according to a certain style and
rule. First, the deceased is washed and shrouded by the
imam or those who know this job.
The color of the shroud cloth is white. White color is
considered a sign of faith. İt is also possible to shroud
with other colors instead of white. However, the white
color is more good and more suitable for the sunnah
[11, pp.52].
The rank of deceased, whether they are male or
female, and whether they died at a young age are
evident from the decorations on the coffin. The coffins
of those who died at young age, especially young girls,
young men and brides, are decorated. İt is decorated
with a wire veil i
n Çankırı, Çubuk, Ankara, Çorum,
Afyon, Boğazlayan, Sivas, Kevenli, Kayseri, Merzifon,
Maraş and Konya regions, and with flowers or a picture
of the dead in Erzurum Zara and Kırşehir [
11, pp.56-57].
Relatives of the dead mourn for forty days or more.
Sometimes they sing laments for the dead person.
Below we can see the example burned by their
mothers for the girls who died after becoming e bride:
Gelinliğin beyaz yeşil duvağın
Bu renkler sana çok yakışır dağlar [
12, pp.139].
[Your bridal gown is white and your green veil
These colors suit you very well, mountains].
Although death has occurred since the beginning of
human beings, this is the only event that humans can
not get used to.
CONCLUSION
Rituals are colorful aspects of life. People have always
wanted to share their joys and sorrows with each
other. The birth of a child and the holding of a wedding
ceremony in a certain household are signs of happiness,
and mourning requires sympathy, help and tenderness.
Regardless of the ceremony, white color means majesty,
purity innocence.
From the conducted research, we can know that it is not
for nothing that the white color is chosen in all three
ceremonies. Wrapping a newborn baby in a white cloth,
wearing a white dress of the bride and wrapping the
corpse in a white shroud mean purity and greatness.
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