Folk Culture
Çorum's folk songs, folk dances, village plays, wedding and birth customs, handicrafts, festivals and local dialect.
Çorum's intangible heritage spans a wide field, from its halay dance to its folk songs, from tinsmiths to weavers. Here you will find the region's folk dances and village plays, customs from birth to wedding, handicrafts from İskilip woodwork to Kargı cloth, the festivals held through the year, and a dictionary of the Çorum dialect. All folk songs are also listed on the folk songs page.
Customs, dances and festivals
Çorum Festivals and Events
Festivals and fairs across the province through the year.
Çorumca: Dialect and Dictionary
Features of the Çorum dialect and local words.
Birth and Marriage Traditions in Çorum
From kırklama to al basması, from cradle betrothals to henna night: the traditional customs and ceremonies marking life'…
Boğazkale Bükme Festival
Held every June by Boğazkale Municipality, the Bükme Festival Cultural Events bring the district together with concerts,…
Çorum Folk Dances
From the Çorum Halayı danced to drum and zurna, through the love-themed İğdeli Gelin and Dillala, to Sinsin — the fire d…
Çorum Handicrafts
From the stone carving of Alacahöyük and Boğazkale to the bağlama makers of Osmancık and Kargı: Çorum's traditional hand…
Çorum Kaloriferi (the Çorum Heater)
The colloquial Turkish name for an auxiliary car heater: the Çorum heater. The saviour of icy winter mornings in Toros a…
Çorum Praises, Curses, Oaths and Comparisons
A selection from Can Yoksul's collection: Çorum praises (maşallah expressions), curses, oaths and comparisons, each with…
Çorum Proverbs and Idioms
From Can Yoksul's collection of over 27,000 sayings: a selection of Çorum proverbs and idioms on work, neighborliness, f…
Çorum Tinsmiths (Kalaycılar) and the Copper Craft
The tinsmiths of Çorum who coat copper vessels over glowing embers and turn hammer work into art: a craft spanning four …
Çorum Village Plays
From Hacı Baba to Kalaycı, from Deve to Keloğlan: Çorum's living branch of Anatolia's village-theatre tradition, the köy…
Kalecikkaya Tepreş Festival
Every July, Kalecikkaya village in Alaca holds the Tepreş Culture Festival; the village's roughly 200-year Crimean Tatar…
Kargı Fair
Held every October in Çorum's Kargı district, the Age-old Kargı Fair is a tradition described as over a century old, wit…
Magazines and Halkevi Publications in Çorum
From Çorum's first magazine Hale (1922) to Çorumlu, the Halkevi's flagship magazine (1938-46): a documented history of m…
The Press History of Çorum: From the First Newspaper to Today
From Çorum's first print shop (1921) to today: Müstakil Çorum, Fikret, Çorum Haber and Çorum Hakimiyet — ninety years of…
Handicrafts
Alaca Camili Kilim
A geographically-indicated traditional kilim woven in the village of Büyükcamili, Alaca, with wool naturally dyed using …
İskilip Cradle
A beloved product of İskilip's deep woodcarving tradition: the nostalgic baby cradle made by hand from natural wood.
İskilip Tokmaklı Kağnı
A nostalgic wooden toy cart born of İskilip's woodcarving tradition, fitted with a mallet mechanism that clatters as its…
İskilip's Fading Handicrafts
Basket weaving, saddle making, woodcarving and shoemaking: four crafts that survive in İskilip through the old guild tra…
Kargı Cloth (Kargı Bezi)
A traditional cloth unique to Kargı district, hand-woven from cotton and silk: born of local clothing needs and kept ali…
Folk songs
Aba da Bir Kebe de Bir Giyene (Coarse Cloak or Felt, All the Same)
One of Çorum's oldest documented folk songs, collected in the town center in 1939; it teaches that a person's worth lies…
İğdenin Dalları Yerdedir Yerde (The Oleaster's Branches Bend to the Ground)
A lively, much loved Çorum tune collected in the Alaca district that likens a lover's longing to the laden branches of t…
Türkmen Kızı Yaktı Bizi (A Turkmen Girl Has Set Us Aflame)
A cheerful Çorum tune about love for a Turkmen girl, collected by Muzaffer Sarısözen and entered into the TRT repertoire…
Fistan Giymiş Kırmalı (She Wore a Pleated Dress)
A much loved Çorum tune from the Sungurlu district praising the traditional dress and beauty of the region's young women…
Kayayı Gırcı Tuttu (İlvanlım) (Frost Took the Rock)
A Çorum song from the Alaca district, known by its "İlvanlım" refrain and sung as accompaniment to the halay line dance.
Bir Taş Attım Alıca (I Threw a Stone at the Hawthorn)
A cheerful Çorum tune with a lively refrain, singing of a kohl-eyed beloved.
Gezsemde Dünyanın Dört Bucağını (Though I Roam the Four Corners of the World)
A deyiş sourced from the Çorum-born folk poet Aşık Haşimi, singing that no place on earth could replace the one who is l…
Odayın Yapısına (By the Room's Doorway)
Known by the source note 'Mencoğlu,' a short, lively Çorum kırık hava addressing a beauty through the everyday images of…
Hem Okudum Hemi De Yazdım (I Both Read and Wrote)
According to sources, a Çorum kırık hava collected from the Alacahöyük area, sometimes also known as the 'Mehmet Lament.…
Ne Elmadır Ne De Nar (Neither Apple Nor Pomegranate)
A tender folk song likening a beloved to neither apple nor pomegranate, collected in Çorum by Nida Tüfekçi in 1971.
Cevahir Taşına Kıymet Biçilmez (A Jewel's Worth Is Set Only by an Expert)
A wise Çorum kırık hava, collected by Muzaffer Sarısözen from İfakat Yaykar, on how true worth is recognized only by one…
Bağdat Ellerinden Gelen Durnalar (Cranes Coming from the Lands of Baghdad)
A longing song addressing migrating cranes for news of a beloved, collected in Mecitözü from Âşık Veli Erdem.
Hürünü A Yârim Hürünü (Put On Your Bells, My Love)
A lively, teasing Çorum kırık hava from İskilip, calling on a beloved to put on her bells, collected by Muzaffer Sarısöz…
Pencereden El Eder (She Waves from the Window)
A lively Çorum kırık hava from Sungurlu with its 'mini yar mini kuş' refrain, calling to a beloved named Münire, collect…
Kaşların Karasına (On Her Dark Brows)
A lively Sungurlu kırık hava, known by its 'haydi gülüm haydi haydi' refrain, opening with the image of a rose set again…
Halimi Arzettim Dağlara Daşa (I Told My Plight to the Mountains and Stones)
A kırık hava collected in Alaca, expressing a grief too heavy to share with anyone but the mountains and stones.
Gayrı Dayanamam Ben Bu Hasrete (I Can No Longer Bear This Longing)
A cry against separation from Alaca, credited to the folk poet Ali İhsan Erdoğan; a Çorum bozlak said to move all who he…
Yüce Dağ Başına Kurdum Arılık (I Set My Beehive on the High Mountain)
A bozlak collected from Çorum folk poet Haydar Öztürk, using the image of a high mountain to speak of love followed by p…