Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
MILLI FOLKLOR, sa.145, ss.145-156, 2025 (AHCI)
In examples of oral and written culture that have survived from the earliest known times to the present day, "apple throwing" rituals, a show performed by female characters to choose a partner, are mentioned. This show, which is kept alive even today in Turkish folk culture, especially in marriage ceremonies, evokes the myth of the "forbidden apple", which has a universal story, and many common meanings related to the "apple" image. These common symbolic meanings such as the first and forbidden knowledge, love, fertility, luck, have also formed a mythical image in the historical process. As it is known, societies have tried to consecrate and remember such mythical images with various commemoration ceremonies and rituals. For this reason, the connotations about the liking of the opposite sex, marriage and reproduction that social memory attributes to the image of the "apple" have been transformed into a show of expressing appreciation and love by throwing apples in many cultures. In addition, the origins of the "apple throwing" demonstrations are also based on bloodless sacrifice rituals that are kept alive in different forms today. In the archaic practices of these ceremonies, human and animal sacrifices were offered to bless the gods and to make vows and it is known that with the development of the agricultural society over time, various agricultural products were also presented to the gods as gifts. Apple has been considered the most valuable gift among all fruits, as it has more than one seeds and its seeds have an aphrodisiac effect. For these reasons, in many cultures, the "apple throwing" ritual has been exhibited as a symbolic show in which the most beautiful person and the person to marry are determined. The "apple throwing" ritual in Turkish culture is not only a means of communication expressing the appreciation between men and women, covering all the universal connotations of the apple, but also a symbolic show used to determine the person to marry and to choose a spouse. This ritual, which still retains its vitality in Turkish folk culture today, has also been included in Turkish oral and written narrative texts. The subject of this study is the "throwing apples and oranges" scenes in masnavis and prose love stories, which are the verse narrative texts of classical Turkish literature. The sample of the study it is limited to the in order to examine the texts in detail and to make intertextual comparisons; which are among the classical period masnavis of I & scedil;kn & acirc;me (14th century, Mehmed); S & uuml;heyl & uuml; Nevbah & acirc;r (14th century, Mesud bin Ahmed) and H & uuml;m & acirc; v & uuml; H & uuml;m & acirc;y & ucirc;n (16th century, Cem & acirc;l & icirc;) and the prose stories narratives of Fa & gbreve;furn & acirc;me and Ferhad ile Kirin. These works were examined by text analysis method, and the exhibition, origins and functions of the ritual seen in the narratives as "throwing apples and sometimes oranges" were emphasized. In the texts examined, it is seen that the process leading to marriage is initiated by creating a selection arena in which the most beautiful one is determined with the "throwing apples or oranges" demonstration. The findings reveal that the "apple throwing" ritual in Turkish culture is a traditional show performed especially for the purpose of choosing a spouse.