Yesevishism rituals in Ottoman wrestling dervish lodges

Abstract

Having a significant place in Turkish sports history, wrestling has become an indispensible part of religious, political, economic, and social ceremonies. Wrestling, which has martial styles and proto-religions by its nature, has been institutionalized as from the very early periods in Turkish history. Ottoman Wrestling Lodges has been training any kind of sport of the period particularly wrestling. In addition to this, they have also been fulfilling many of the social functions. As for Yesevishism, known as a cult, is a phenomenon underlying Turkish culture in terms of its structure and influences beyond being a cult. In this study, the organizational structure of the Ottoman Wrestling Lodges, the practical and theoretical rituals performed in the organizations, and the similar patterns existing in Yesevishism have been compared and systematized in a sociological and folkloric framework with the help of the literature review technique. Since there were no monographic studies relevant to this issue in the picture, some other concerning studies on wrestling lodges and Yesevishism has been touched upon. Furthermore, the Ottoman archival files have been availed. Whether wrestling lodges embody the national and religious elements existing in Yesevishism has been questioned. The fact that wrestling lodges were led and trained by the syncretic fathers who are the Western representatives of Yesevishism cult in Ahi and Bektashi communities has been found out. It has been confirmed that these fathers have equipped the cult wrestlers with the sensitivity based on Turkish public awareness and traditions as it is done in Yesevishism; therefore, the wrestling lodges and Yesevishism have the same roots to be nourished. It has been concluded that Yesevishism which hierarchically shows parallelism with Ottoman Lodges in all practical and theoretical rituals has both a propelling and directive element of power for these foundations.