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Turkish-style Halloween: The night of Bocuk
Turkish-style Halloween: The night of Bocuk
A folkway and ritual dating back to the medieval times, the night of Bocuk is a quasi-Halloween tradition for Turkish people. Click through to find out more about the uncharted mysteries of the night of Bocuk, prepared by İnci Hazal Özcan:
A Balkan convention that swept Turkey’s northwest with a migration flow in the 19th century, the night of Bocuk is generally celebrated in the villages of the Thrace province of Edirne’s Keşan district.
The night of Bocuk represents the harshest day of winter. Legend has it that if someone drops a piece of wood in the water at night and finds it frozen in the morning, they will be conferred good health and strength all year round.
This special night full of mysteries is mostly celebrated in mid-January, albeit the time-span for villages differ from each other.
Rumor has it that on this very night a strange inhumane creature, dressed in all white and disguised as a human, roams the streets of the villages to do its evil work.
The villagers believe that cooking a zucchini meal would prevent Bocuk from doing mischief. Thus, every household cooks zucchini on the night of Bocuk and dines with friends and neighbors.
But the obscure traditions of this night are not solely limited to zucchini. The night of Bocuk is filled with laughter, music, folkloric dances, and local and vivid plays.
On this night, some choose to gather in a friend’s or neighbor’s house and some hit the streets to catch Bocuk with ropes made out of straw.
An archaic Turkish tradition that is still celebrated in contemporary times, the night of Bocuk holds a great deal of importance in Thracian culture.
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