The Reinvention of Tradition in Making and Exhibiting of Dowry in Anatolian Culture (original) (raw)

2021, Pages on Arts and Design

Marriage is a significant part of almost every culture. As a cultural phenomenon, marriage consists of traditional patterns that connect material and spiritual culture and give it belonging to a culture. The dowry tradition, which is a common part of this pattern; includes all kinds of material items that are prepared, made, or purchased consisting of cultural-specific spiritual elements for newly married couples to use in their new lives. The concept of dowry, which is evaluated within the scope of intangible cultural heritage, is a composition and collection of objects that carry a lot of cultural information. Due to its structure, the dowry concept, which refers to the practice of making, purchasing and exhibiting, is encountered in many cultures around the world. However, this practice, which is completely shaped by cultural knowledge, carries traces not only from ethnic differences but also from socio-cultural changes. In this context; it is aimed to concretize and discuss the results of the interaction of dowry, which is a long-established tradition of productivity and creativity, with industrial production and socio-cultural changes from the beginning of the 20th century to the present in Turkey. In the study, socio-cultural changes in society on the based on periods and the changes they created in the dowry phenomenon were mentioned. Today, some non-traditional items and practices have also been traditionalized and belong to the dowry tradition. It has been observed that objects and practices belonging to the dowry tradition are influenced by developments in many political, economic, technical and cultural fields. Another important result is the inclusion of non-traditional industrial products in dowry rituals and becoming traditional. Sometimes not only objects but also some practices constructed with these objects have become part of the dowry tradition and the tradition has been reinvented.