Abstract
AN EXAMPLE OF AMULET IN THE CONTEXT OF INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE: PALIURUS
Traditional medicine has come to exist in consequence of that the first human being looked for healing for various diseases by taking advantage of nature. For centuries, knowledge gained by means of experience and observation has been passed down from generation to generation via culture. The method of treating diseases by people's own special efforts by using products or mines obtained from plants and animals or by using practices such as magic and prayer is accepted as folk medicine. In the search for healing, it is noteworthy that in addition to the developments that modern medicine has reached today, by maintaining the old habits midwifery / grandfather vision and ancestral vision methods based on experience, observation and accumulation of knowledge are still preferred in the treatment of diseases. In the process of cultural change, the Convention on the Conservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage, adopted at UNESCO's 32nd general conference in 2003, aims to protect local cultural values that are rapidly lost with globalization. As one of the five areas created during the definition of intangible cultural heritage, the rubric of “knowledge and practices related to nature and the universe” includes applications related to traditional folk medicine. In this context, the detection and protection of traditional healing practices are among the objectives of the convention. Within this scope, the paliurus and amulets made of paliurus used as a treatment element against evil eye are the subjects of this study. In this study, based on the data obtained from interviews with source people in Mersin region, both oral culture products and amulets shaped around paliurus were determined. The amulets collected from the field have been evaluated as archaic codes of social memory that has been lived, reproduced and transmitted for centuries in Turkish cultural and social life.
Keywords
Intangible cultural heritage, traditional medicine, folk believs, evil eye, amulet, paliurus.