In Amasya a death is an event that sets not only the family but the whole neighborhood in motion. Preparations begin while the sick person is still close to the end, and continue with washing and shrouding, the funeral prayer and burial, followed by condolence visits and memorial days spread over weeks. Most of this order rests on Islamic norms, while part of it has come down from much older folk beliefs. The account is based on the customs and beliefs recorded in the town itself and in the villages of Göynücek; older examples of funerals and endowments found in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi and in Osman Fevzi Olcay's memoirs give these records historical depth. Examples known from other regions are marked separately for comparison.

Before Death: Signs and Vigil

In popular belief death has a forewarning. Dreaming of a water buffalo, of a mirror breaking or a house collapsing, of a tooth being pulled or falling out, or of a large cauldron is read as a sign that a death will occur. If the body remains soft while being washed, it is taken as a sign that deaths will multiply. It is considered a bad omen if the person washing the dead steps up onto the washing board, and a death is expected to follow.

A field study completed in 2019 in the villages of Göynücek adds further beliefs to these. There, when a crow or an owl calls, it is believed that someone will fall ill or that a funeral will leave the village; a person wishing to curse another says, "May an owl call at your house." Seeing an owl in a dream is read as news of a death, dogs howling at night as a death or bad news, and a twitching right eye as a sign that bad news is near. Scissors left open are said to "cut a shroud," and a person who suddenly eats a great deal is thought to be gathering up his last portion, his death being close. The belief about the soft body recorded in the town lives on unchanged in Göynücek: if the dead is soft while being washed, another death is expected to follow. The researcher also notes that the villagers were plainly reluctant to talk about death, explaining that "it would be meddling in God's affairs."

When the patient's eyes turn dull, the nose becomes pinched, the gaze fixes and the face pales, it is understood that he or she will die. In Göynücek this sign is described as the cooling of the legs, of which the patient himself is said to be unaware. From then on the Quran is recited at the bedside and water is given to the patient's mouth continually. The reason for this, too, has its place in the belief: to a dying person who is thirsty, Satan appears and says, "Give me your faith and I will give you water." The patient is therefore not left thirsty, so that he does not fall into this bargain. In Göynücek a gravely ill person is given Zamzam water, and is asked what food he craves so that it can be brought; in his last moments a hodja, a dede or someone who knows the Quran recites Yasin at his side. People do not crowd the bedside, and death is not mentioned so as not to distress the patient. The recitation of Yasin beside the dying also appears in the books of jurisprudence; the Prophet's hadith recommending that Yasin be read over the dead is held to include those in their final agony.

The Moment of Death and the First Procedures

If the deceased has died with the eyes open, this is interpreted as "he did not get his wish" or "he had someone he longed for abroad, his eyes stayed behind." The first task is to close the eyes, bind the jaw and remove the clothing. The bedding is changed, and the new bed is called the "comfort bed" (rahat döşeği). The shoes of the deceased are either burned or given to a poor person, the reason for burning being that the soul should not return to the house. Placing an iron object such as a knife or scissors on the belly so that it does not swell is also among the procedures of the first hours. In Göynücek, too, scissors or a knife are placed on the belly if the body is to wait; the feet of the deceased are turned toward the qibla, and cologne is applied so that there is no smell. The author of the thesis sees in this practice the survival of an old belief that iron drives away evil spirits; this is the researcher's own interpretation.

The neighbors step in at this point. Because cooking in the house of the dead is regarded as a burden, neighbors bring food, or the food cooked at the house is distributed to those who come to offer condolences. A fire is lit for three nights in a row at the place where the body was washed; today the custom is kept by leaving the house lights on until morning on the first night after the funeral. The same change has been observed in Göynücek: a fire used to be lit for three or four nights in front of the house of the dead, and today candles, or house lights left burning for three or four days, have taken its place. At the spot where the body was washed, however, a fire is still lit to cleanse it.

Washing and Shrouding

If the deceased is a man, he is washed by one of the men or by the imam; if a woman, by an older woman past menstruation. The washers are usually paid. The body is laid on the washing board and first made to perform ablution; then the head is washed three times, the right side three times and the left side three times, and the whole body is soaped. After the water is poured and the washing is completed, a second ablution is performed and the body is rinsed. The order described in the books of jurisprudence is close to this: the body is laid on the washing board in an enclosed place with its feet toward the qibla, given ablution, washed twice with warm soapy water and once with scented water; men are washed by men and women by women.

In the villages of Göynücek the place of washing has changed over time. Everyone used to wash their dead in front of their own house; today most villages have rooms set aside for the purpose in their cemevi. Where once a hodja came from other villages to wash the dead, the task is now taken on by the dede, and women are washed by women hodjas. Alongside the imam, the children or parents of the deceased may also take part in the washing if they wish. If the funeral is to wait until morning, a "comfort bath" (rahatlık banyosu) is given in the evening and the imam washes the body again in the morning. Neighbors used to bring a white sheet or soap for the dead; this custom is no longer practiced.

The life of one of Amasya's former scholars shows what esteem the washing of the dead carried in the town. According to Hüsameddin, the Naqshbandi Sheikh Ahmed Efendi, who died in 1221 [1806], was not a washer of the dead by trade; yet the notables and scholars of the town would ask in their wills to be washed by him, and if they pleaded with him he would gently wash some of them and lower them into the grave himself. Hüsameddin also relates the story that while washing one of the dead he pressed the wrist and said, "What a fine and lofty place you have," whereupon the dead man opened his eyes, smiled at him and closed them again, and he adds that many people saw this. This tale of a miracle cannot be counted as a verifiable fact, but it shows clearly that entrusting the washing to a reliable person of one's own choosing was an accepted wish in the town.

Relatives and friends each take a bowl of the water left over from the washing and pour it over the deceased. This is regarded as the last act of mutual forgiveness. The sheets and the belongings of the deceased are washed with the remaining water. In Göynücek, by contrast, the water left from the washing is not poured near the house but carried to a secluded and suitable place. For the shroud, a white cloth called "hasa" is used. A man's shroud is prepared from fifteen meters of cloth in three pieces: besides the two large pieces there are the inner shirt and the seven-layered "sıtır bezi." The difference in a woman's shroud is that a "chest cloth" is added to these. This distinction matches the shroud prescribed by the sunna in jurisprudence, where a man's shroud also consists of three pieces, the shirt (kamis), the izar and the lifafe, while a woman's adds a head covering and a chest wrap tied between the breast and the navel so that the shroud does not come open.

In Göynücek the three pieces of the shroud are known by these names: of the two sheets reaching from head to foot, the longer is spread on the ground and the shorter laid over it; the sides of the shirt, which reaches from the neck to the knee, are opened and the head of the deceased passed through, and then the izar and the lifafe are folded over, first from the left and then from the right, and tied. Scissors are not used in cutting the shroud; a knife is used instead. Elderly people of strong faith buy their shrouds while still in good health, so that seeing the shroud will remind them of death and keep them from wrongdoing. The shrouded body is placed in the coffin, and nigella seeds are sprinkled over it and rose water poured; in Göynücek, too, rose water is poured on the shroud or nigella seeds scattered over it for the same purpose.

The Funeral Prayer and Burial

The body, placed in the coffin, is brought to the mosque and the funeral prayer is performed. According to Hanafi jurisprudence, unless there is an excuse such as rain, the funeral prayer is not performed inside the mosque; in the old Amasya funerals described by Hüsameddin, too, the coffin is seen placed on the funeral stone in the courtyard of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. In Göynücek no funeral is carried out after the evening call to prayer. At the head of the coffin a headscarf is placed if the deceased is a woman or a girl, a jacket if a man, and a flag if a martyr. After the prayer the coffin is carried on shoulders to the cemetery. In Göynücek the coffin is passed from hand to hand by the men of the village, which signifies that Muslims forgive one another their rights.

In the grave the deceased is taken out of the coffin and laid facing the qibla, turned slightly onto the right side. The imam recites a prayer and the body is covered over. Throwing earth on the grave is counted as a good deed. In Göynücek the person throwing earth does not hand the shovel to the next, but lays it on the ground; the next person picks it up and goes on, and behind this lies the thought that "from earth we came and to earth we shall return." After the grave is filled, prayers are said and the congregation disperses; the imam stays at the graveside to give the talqin to the deceased. The schools of law differ on the talqin: the Shafi'is and Hanbalis regard it as recommended, while in the Hanafi school it is stated that it is not to be done, though no harm is seen if it is. The idea that the deceased's awakening can be known from the trembling of the earth is also told at this point. In Göynücek, if the deceased left such a wish, a favorite possession may be buried beside him.

Accounts from Giresun and Elazığ show how closely this framework matches that of Anatolia as a whole. In Giresun the body is kept at home for a day to wait for relatives abroad and to let the deceased spend one last night with the family; burial usually follows the noon prayer, and after the funeral prayer those attending used to be given a loaf of bread. In the villages of Elazığ, when a death is heard of, the whole village leaves its work, some digging the grave and others bringing the necessary materials, and everything from boiling the washing water to the washing itself is finished before the bereaved family can do it. If there is a wedding, circumcision or similar ceremony in the village or a nearby one, it is either postponed or held without music with the permission of the house of the dead. These details do not appear in the town record, but the avoidance of entertainment during mourning is Amasya's counterpart of the same understanding. In Göynücek, on the other hand, the custom of asking permission is explicitly recorded; it is taken up below under mourning.

Great Funerals in Ottoman Amasya

The volumes Hüsameddin devoted to the scholars of Amasya are full of brief but vivid notes on how the town's leading men were sent off. When the Halveti sheikh Nûh Efendi died around 977 [1569-70], his body was carried out by a great crowd; the people regarded him as a "friend of God" (veliyyullah). When the Halveti Sheikh Hüsâmeddîn Efendi, preacher of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque and sheikh of the Mahmud Çelebi lodge, died in the month of Dhu al-Hijja of 1053 [1644], all the craftsmen of the town closed their shops, and his body, in Hüsameddin's phrase, "went on fingertips." The expression describes the coffin being carried on the hands of the crowd, borne as if on the tips of their fingers.

The most detailed description of the ceremony is the funeral of the Halveti Sheikh Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi, who is said to have died in 1273 [1856] on his prayer rug after performing the night prayer. His body was brought into the courtyard of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque and placed on the funeral stone on the right-hand side, and the prayer was led by the Naqshbandi sheikh Şehir Kethüdâsızâde Sheikh Mehmed Arif Efendi. At the end of the prayer, as the congregation was asked how they had known the deceased, the question of forgiveness still asked today, the cries of the sheikhs and disciples, the sobbing of the people and the tears of the scholars turned the whole of Amasya, according to Hüsameddin, into a house of mourning. The coffin was carried on fingertips with dhikr and tahlil as far as the corner east of Aşağı Pirler.

Similar scenes are described for other scholars. When a scholar who had taught in Amasya for forty-five years and had also served as mufti died in 1173 [1760], Hüsameddin writes that "Amasya lived a day of mourning"; his body was brought to the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, the prayer was performed by a great crowd, and he was buried east of the cemetery on the left of the road leading to Okmeydanı. The prayer for Sheikh Ahmed Efendi, who died in 1806, was likewise performed at the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, and he was buried in the Narlıbahçe Cemetery beside the Şehzade Türbe. These examples suggest that the courtyard of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque was, for centuries, the place where the town's great funeral prayers gathered.

One aspect of these crowded ceremonies does not fully match the standards of the books of jurisprudence. Jurisprudence asks that the dead be accompanied in silence; reciting the Quran aloud or performing dhikr while following the bier was considered reprehensible, and some scholars disapproved of it on the grounds that it obscured the lesson that death teaches. The carrying of Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi's coffin with dhikr and tahlil shows that Sufi circles departed from this standard when sending off their own sheikhs. Hüsameddin does not criticize this departure; he records it as it was.

There were also moments when this whole order broke down. When plague grew to a terrifying extent in Amasya in Dhu al-Hijja of 1099 [September-October 1688], according to Hüsameddin's account the dead began to be buried without being washed or shrouded, just as they were, in pits that had been dug; the number of the dead and the stench of the bodies had bewildered everyone. In Ramadan of the following year all the scholars and Quran memorizers of the town were gathered to drive away the epidemic, the Quran and the hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim were read and complete recitations made, and every part of the town was walked round while the Quran was recited. According to Hüsameddin, the plague abated at the end of Ramadan.

Kazma Takırtısı and the Table of the House of Mourning

In Amasya neighbors bring food to the house of the dead, or the food cooked there is distributed to those who come to offer condolences. This meal is called "kazma takırtısı." The name comes from the sound of the pickaxes and shovels of those digging the grave. A record collected in the villages of Malatya describes the practice in detail: when someone dies in the village the grave is dug by communal labor, those who take their pickaxe and shovel from home run to the grave, and on their return the diggers and those who carried the body are given a meal at the house of the dead. In the same region, no pot is boiled to speak of in the house of the dead until the seventh day after burial; neighbors and relatives arrange their turns among themselves and carry food without letting the bereaved notice. In Giresun, too, no food is cooked for a week in a house where a death has occurred, and neighbors mostly bring it.

In Amasya this attitude is also expressed in the saying "no smoke rises from the chimney of the house of the dead." Bringing food lightens the burden of laying a table for the family in mourning. Taking over the arrangement of meals for a few days and helping to host the people who come to offer condolences are part of this sense of loyalty. The same reason is given in Göynücek: the bereaved should not also have to deal with cooking, so neighbors carry food so that the family can mourn in peace. Nor does one go empty-handed to offer condolences; things such as sugar and butter are taken along.

The custom has a religious basis. When Ja'far ibn Abi Talib fell as a martyr, the Prophet told those around him that Ja'far's family was too grieved to prepare food and advised them to cook for them, and Islamic scholars, starting from this report, held that taking food to the house of the dead is a sunna. The same scholars regarded it as reprehensible for the bereaved to prepare food and serve it to others, since it imposed a burden at an unsuitable time and was counted among the customs of the pre-Islamic age; they added that if any of the heirs lacked full legal capacity, such expenses could not be met from the estate of the deceased. Feeding those who came from afar for the funeral was, however, considered permissible. The two forms of kazma takırtısı, food brought by neighbors and food cooked in the house of the dead and given to the gravediggers, stand like a local compromise between these two standards.

Memorial Halva

In Amasya halva is made and distributed for the soul of the deceased. The halva is cooked on the day of the funeral above all, and on memorial days. Flour, butter and sugar are stirred patiently in large pots, and the smell of the halva spreads from the house into the street. The halva is offered to those who come to offer condolences, to neighbors, to the poor and to the mosque congregation, and a prayer is said for the deceased as it is eaten. In the villages of Göynücek the time of the halva varies from place to place: in one village it is roasted on the third and fortieth days after burial, while in some villages the halva is not served right after the funeral but distributed when a mevlit is recited. In the same villages an animal called the "grave sacrifice" (kabir kurbanı) is slaughtered after the funeral and a meal for the dead is distributed.

In the sources the custom is traced to the Central Asian Turkic beliefs. According to them, it was believed that the smell of flour roasted in butter reached the soul of the deceased; the smell fed the soul and the halva itself fed those left behind. After the adoption of Islam the practice acquired a new meaning: the halva is cooked so that the deceased may have a taste in the mouth and the torment of the grave may be eased, and those who eat it pray for the soul of the deceased. According to an explanation written on literary terms, this custom is a continuation of the yuğ ceremonies of the early Turks and, though clothed in an Islamic garb, is older in origin; the same explanation also counts communal meals in the house of the dead and the collective lamenting of women among the elements recalling yuğ ceremonies. The same source records that memorial halva is made according to formal numbers such as the first day, the third day and the fortieth day, that when it is distributed the name of the deceased is mentioned and "for the soul of the late so-and-so" is said, and that the halva was even sent to the poor and to prisoners. The image of "memorial halva" and of "halva" appears in the couplets of Divan poets such as Atai, Sabit and Necati; that the custom entered literature also shows how widespread it was.

The bond between halva and death is not confined to the days of the funeral. In Göynücek, when a newly married bride and groom first enter their home they perform two rak'ahs of prayer and eat three morsels of halva, so that when they die they may find strength in crossing the Sirat Bridge. These three morsels at the wedding table are the reflection, at the other end of life, of the same belief that lies behind memorial halva.

In regional speech other names exist beside halva. Kırk ekmeği, ölü aşı, ölü çöreği, lokma and can helvası are counted among the dishes served after funerals in Anatolia. In the villages of Malatya the main dishes of the "seventh" meal of the dead are the same as those of wedding meals, with one difference: a flour halva is added. On the fortieth day, meals are given to villagers for the sake of the deceased, a mevlit is recited and mevlit sweets are distributed; this meal is called "can aşı."

That halva is sweet has also drawn attention. A study on the table of death notes that distributing sweets and halva at mevlits may be nourished by the idea of easing a bitter experience through the sense of taste, which can be thought together with the saying "turning grief into honey."

Halva and Quran Recitation for the Dead in Pious Endowments

In Amasya, cooking halva for the dead has been a charity undertaken not only by families but also by pious endowments. Hüsameddin writes that the Amasya scholar Mevlânâ Pîr Ali Çelebi, who died after 847 [1443-44], endowed half the revenue of the village of Ağcaşehr in the Geldiklan district, the other half being the endowment of his relative Tursun Bey. He states that the revenue of both halves was stipulated for the proper cooking of food and halva at Pîr Ali Çelebi's tomb, and adds that the endowment records say the same. This stipulation shows that in fifteenth-century Amasya memorial halva was cooked at the tomb as a standing charity; on which days and in what way the halva was distributed, however, the text does not say.

Having the Quran recited for the soul of the dead was also secured through endowments. Tâceddîn Ahmed Efendi of Lâdik, whom Hüsameddin counts among the scholars of Amasya, in 1208 [1793-94] endowed five thousand kuruş in cash together with his properties, assigning duties to the Upper Mosque in the Tekke quarter of Lâdik and to its imam; he placed sections of the Quran in the mosque, stipulated that complete recitations be made for his soul, and set aside payments for those who recited the sections. Such stipulations show that the Quran read after a death was not left only to the seventh and fortieth days, but was meant to continue for years on the income of an endowment. The books of jurisprudence, by contrast, regard having the Quran recited or a complete recitation made for the dead in return for payment, at burial or afterwards, as an innovation; while reciting the Quran is hoped to benefit the dead, it is stated that a reciter's aim of payment removes its character as worship. The endowment stipulations of Amasya show that people and scholars alike adopted a broader practice in this matter than the standard of the books.

Osman Fevzi Olcay describes an example of this tradition that continued in the period he himself witnessed. In keeping with the charity to which a simit baker's shop endowed in the Selağzı area of the Gümüşlü quarter was bound, every year on the eve of the Feast of the Sacrifice Karcı İmam Tevfik had flour halva made. The halvas were wrapped in flatbread and carried in large laundry baskets to the Aşağı Pirler tomb, where Quran memorizers made a complete recitation and said a prayer, after which they were distributed. Olcay records that the custom was observed without fail on the fixed day each year, and that the shop's trusteeship was managed by a man called Kayyumzâde. The choice of the eve of the feast fits the fact that in the Göynücek and Elazığ records the eve appears as a day for visiting graves.

Condolences and Mourning

Mourning is observed in the house of the dead. Acquaintances, friends and relatives come to offer condolences. During the mourning the television is not turned on and no music is listened to. Where there is mourning, those around show respect for it; if a wedding is near, no entertainment is held. According to the Elazığ record, the condolence period is three days; after the burial people go together to the house of the bereaved, the hodja recites Yasin-i Şerif, and those close to the bereaved stay there to share the sorrow. In Giresun this visit is called "going to the mourning" (yasa gitmek) or "doing the mourning" (yas etmek). Long speeches are not expected at condolence visits; sitting quietly, reciting the Fatiha and wishing patience is considered enough.

The three-day period comes from a debate among Islamic scholars. On the basis of a hadith it was said that condolence is limited to three days, while some scholars considered it mistaken to set any limit. According to the prevailing view, condolences should be offered after the burial and at the home of the bereaved; offering condolences in the mosque was considered reprehensible, and visitors were advised not to stay long, since many people might come. That those offering condolences speak of the good qualities of the deceased also rests on hadiths enjoining that the dead be remembered with kindness. In some regions the first festival after a death is counted as a festival of mourning, and the house of the dead is filled with an atmosphere of grief as if the funeral had just left.

In Göynücek the mourners wear black or dark clothing. Mourning used to last forty days, during which men did not shave or bathe; today these rules are not followed, though some still go unshaven for a while. If a wedding fell on the day of a funeral, the family holding the wedding would go to the house of the dead to ask permission; if it was granted the wedding was held, but postponing it was generally preferred. The researcher witnessed this flexibility at first hand: on the day she attended a wedding invitation in the village of Çaykışla, a villager died; the bereaved sent his gift to the wedding house and did not attend, and the wedding family, having obtained his permission, held the wedding that day. Laments used to be sung over the dead; today, though not regularly, the relatives of the deceased are known to sing laments.

In the religious side of condolence, the fasts the deceased did not keep and the prayers he did not perform in his lifetime are also taken into account. A calculation is made according to the age of the deceased and money is given to the poor in return; in Amasya this is called "kefaret sarma." In a similar way in Elazığ there is the custom of "sitting out the turn" (devrine oturma) of the deceased, and fitre alms are distributed for the acts of worship that the deceased did not perform or left incomplete. In Göynücek, too, "devir and ıskat" was practiced in the past, the aim being to pay the debt of the deceased in this way so that his soul might rest; according to the study, the practice has now ceased. Jurisprudence, for its part, regards it as recommended that the deceased's debts to other people be paid from the estate, if possible before the funeral prayer is performed.

The belongings of the deceased are also part of the mourning. In Göynücek his clothes, if still usable, are given to neighbors and some possessions are kept as mementos; in some villages the clothes are kept for forty days and then given to someone in need or burned.

The Seventh, Fortieth and Fifty-Second Days

After a death, observances are held on set days for the soul of the deceased. On the seventh, fortieth and fifty-second days after death, and also on religious festivals and holy nights, mevlits are recited, graves are visited and food is given. In popular belief, on the fortieth day the flesh is thought to separate from the bone, and on the fifty-second day the nose is thought finally to fall from the body, which is said to be very painful. In Göynücek, too, the seventh, the fortieth and the fifty-second night of the deceased are observed, the Quran is recited and a meal for the dead is given; there, however, the bones are believed to separate from the flesh on the fifty-second night. This difference between the two records shows that the same belief is tied to different days from place to place. In Göynücek the reason for praying and giving food is also stated plainly: to ease the suffering of the dead. These days have no counterpart in the religious texts; the books of jurisprudence state that there is no information in the Quran or the hadith concerning mevlits and complete recitations held on the seventh, fortieth or fifty-second night of the deceased, and that devir and ıskat after burial also fall into the category of innovation. Popular practice has nevertheless kept these days as the true calendar of remembrance.

In Elazığ, on the fortieth day a mevlit is recited and guests are offered food and halva; on the fifty-second day a hatim is completed, the first religious festival after the death is counted as a "mourning festival" (karalı bayram), and cemeteries are visited on the eve of festivals. In the villages of Malatya, sweets, biscuits and kömbe are distributed at the grave on the deceased's "first festival." In Amasya, too, grave visits are concentrated at festivals.

Customs at the Grave and in the Cemetery

The Göynücek study also records the practices continued at the graveside after burial. On the night the dead is buried a fire is kept burning in front of the house until morning, and this lasts one, two or three days; on the day of the death and the night of the burial a fire or candle is lit in the cemetery, and the practice is repeated on festivals, on the eves of festivals and on Thursday nights. Some gravestones have a section at the head set aside for lighting a fire or setting a candle; while visiting the cemeteries the researcher came upon half-burned candles and the ashes of extinguished fires. Cases in which a fire is lit for forty days are also known, though they are rare.

Graves are visited on Thursdays, candles are lit, prayers are said and water is poured on the graves. Women used to go to the cemetery a few days after the burial; today they go the same day or the next. Those passing a cemetery recite the Ikhlas and the Fatiha. Cemeteries are visited on the eves and days of festivals, at Nevruz, at Hıdırellez and in the last days of the Muharram fast. Trees and flowers are planted at the head of the grave, and a headscarf is tied if the dead is a woman; on some graves a flag is hung, and strips of cloth or colored kerchiefs are tied. Lighting candles and tying cloth beside a grave are listed among innovations in the books of jurisprudence; their prevalence in Göynücek shows that old beliefs survive despite the official standards.

In one village the gravestone is set up a year after the death. The stones are mostly of marble, though wooden ones also exist; the name, surname, and dates of birth and death of the deceased are written on them. Some stones bear poems, sayings and motifs, above all the Zulfiqar motif; the researcher states that it symbolizes the deceased's devotion to Ali. If, while a grave is being dug, bones belonging to another dead person come up, money is thrown into the grave; in this way the place is regarded as bought from its former owner, and only then is the new dead buried. In the villages of Davutevi and Ardıçpınar there is also a rumor that the dead are buried in their clothes, as among the early Turks; the inhabitants of these villages deny it, however, and the researcher states plainly that the rumor could not be verified.

Beliefs About the Fate of the Dead

The Amasya record also contains signs concerning the condition of the deceased in the afterlife. If the body has become beautiful on the washing board, it is believed that his end in the hereafter will be good. If the body is heavy, the deceased is thought to have many sins, and if light, few; a black color of the body is also read as a sign of many sins. If a butterfly or a fly is seen in the house after the funeral, it is believed that the soul of the deceased has come back to the house in that guise.

A Comparison from Eastern Anatolia

A study of funeral customs in Erzurum shares striking points with what has been recorded in Amasya. There too the bed on which the deceased is laid is called "rahat döşeği," the eyes are closed at once, the jaw is bound, and a knife or a bowl is placed on the body so that the belly does not swell. In the house of the dead the lights are turned on after the evening prayer and not turned off until morning; this practice continues until the fortieth day. One difference should be noted: in Erzurum relatives wash their hands and faces with what is left of the washing water, while in Amasya relatives pour the remaining water over the deceased, and in Göynücek it is carried to a secluded place and poured out.

In Erzurum the memorial halva is prepared not by the bereaved but by the neighbors; one neighbor brings the butter, another the flour and another the sugar, because on that day the hands of the grieving host are tied. The halva is roasted in large pots by someone who knows the Quran and is in a state of ablution, and the person roasting it recites prayers without speaking. It is believed that if the dead does not smell the halva, the soul will not leave the house for three days. On the seventh day halva is made again, taken to the cemetery on a tray and distributed there, and those who eat it pray for the soul of the deceased. Those who came to offer condolences visit again a week later to "lift the mourning," and on the fortieth day the house of the dead gives the "kırk ekmeği" meal, slaughtering an animal according to its means. The mevlit and meal on the fortieth day in the Amasya record are part of this wider framework. Even so, while the Amasya text reports the distribution of halva to the poor and to the congregation as the main point, the Erzurum example details who prepares it, how and with what prayer.

In Erzurum nobody laughs in the house of the dead, the television and radio are not turned on, nobody bathes, laundry is not washed and children are not brought; for forty days the family is never left alone. The statement in the Amasya record that "the television is not turned on and no music is listened to during mourning" reads like a short summary of these more detailed rules of mourning; the former custom in Göynücek of not bathing for forty days stands in the same line as the Erzurum ban on bathing.

A Wider Look at the Food Tradition After Funerals

Giving food after a death is not regarded as a practice peculiar to Anatolia. A study on the sociology of death places the post-funeral table side by side with Jewish, ancient Prussian and Lithuanian, Mexican and Japanese examples. According to the same study, old altar rites performed in cemeteries were transformed under the influence of Islam into the giving of food to the poor and the distribution of halva and sweets at the mevlit. The food ritual continues in the big cities through meal services provided by municipalities, and the abundance of a family's table can also show its social standing.

An article explaining why halva is roasted in the house of the dead makes the same link: as soon as a death occurs a huge pot and the ingredients are prepared, and the halva is roasted the same day and offered to those who come to offer condolences. This is the present-day form, in the neighborhoods of Amasya, of a practice whose roots lie in Central Asian Turkic belief. The line that runs from the halva cooked on endowment income at a scholar's tomb in the fifteenth century, through the festival-eve halva that Olcay remembered being carried in baskets to the Aşağı Pirler tomb, to the halva distributed at mevlits in the villages of Göynücek today, shows that the custom has an unbroken history. Some customs have thinned out over time and some have been adapted to the new conditions of town and village life; yet the sharing of food and prayer together remains the core of most of what is done after a person has died.

Chronology

After 847 [1443-44]: The Amasya scholar Pîr Ali Çelebi dies; half the revenue of the village of Ağcaşehr, together with the other half, has been stipulated for cooking food and halva at his tomb.

Around 977 [1569-70]: The Halveti sheikh Nûh Efendi dies in Amasya; his body is carried out by a great crowd.

1053 [1644]: Sheikh Hüsâmeddîn Efendi, preacher of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, dies; the craftsmen close their shops and the coffin is carried "on fingertips."

1099 [1688]: During a plague epidemic the dead are buried in pits without being washed or shrouded.

1100 [1689]: Complete recitations of the Quran are made in Ramadan to drive away the plague; the epidemic abates at the end of Ramadan.

1173 [1760]: The funeral prayer of an Amasya scholar who had taught for forty-five years is performed at the Sultan Bayezid Mosque.

1208 [1793-94]: Tâceddîn Ahmed Efendi establishes his endowment in Lâdik stipulating complete recitations of the Quran for his soul.

1221 [1806]: The Naqshbandi Sheikh Ahmed Efendi, who washed the dead at their request, dies; he is buried in the Narlıbahçe Cemetery.

1273 [1856]: The body of Sheikh Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi is carried from the funeral stone in the courtyard of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque with dhikr and tahlil.

2019: A master's thesis recording beliefs about birth, marriage and death in the district of Göynücek is completed.

Bibliography

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