Zonguldak Havalisinde Maden Folklorunda Memoratlar

Abstract

Coal was found by Uzun Mehmet from Kestaneci village of Eregli county in Zonguldak basin in 1829. This exploration constitutes the history of coal management in Turkey. After this exploration, Zonguldak, with its coal reserve and management of these reserves, has witnessed many stages of the history. Zonguldak features coal miner folklore and a culture that has developed around this folklore. Here, this culture also forms the work folklore. Because coal mines are below the earth for meters and dark and since they can only be lightened by flashlights or with the light of the helmet of the miners, these places are important for these memorates to develop. These memorates are made up of various narratives about the creature which is called owner of the pit. Apparently, the memorates that have been told had influence on the creation and continuity of the cults that miners performed as a kind of precaution. Besides, memorates provide miners to take precaution in terms of job security. These safety measures can be evaluated as a part of opened or closed function of the memorate. Today, many workers who work in the mine state that the things told and cults are superstitious and the people who say that they have seen the proprietor which is called owner of the pit might have hallucinated because of physiological reasons like insomnia. We observed in our study that workers don’t believe in the things that have been told or they don’t want to talk about them again in order not to live these events all over. The memorates that we compiled in our fieldwork about the mines of Zonguldak Vicinage which is the capital of labour, form the content of this article.