Village of Şambayadı is a settlement in Çukurova, Adana. This village built by Şambayadı Yoruk/Turkmens as it understood by its name. Although these Turkmens passed to settled life, they kept and used their rituals and treatments between the time of birth and death with their oral cultures like proverbs, tales, folktales, etc. It can be said “These cultural factors are still alive because of Turkmen’s isolated life against cultural impacts in the the region in question”. People of Şambayadı village has not any relation with modern life except some modern traditions like “birthday celebration” and “woman’s meeting day”. Although there are some pressures from religious and government powers, some cultural factors in many phases of life lived in public or private. This situation seems in religious rituals and treatments about birth. Birth can be described as some kind of passing process that includes lots of religious and magical layers except some medical treatments. After the religious wedding as last stage of marriage, there are some practices for mother and child until the child’s 40th day like “religious and magical treatments and abstinences for woman who wants to be pregnant”, “protecting them from evil spirits who can harm mother and child” and “protection both of them from evil eye”. This article includes “perception of the birth as known as passing process in Şambayadı village”, discusses about “rituals and treatments before birth, the moment of birth and after the birth”, and thoughts and function of these rituals and treatments. Materials in this paper have been obtained in 2004 based on collecting and observation between Şambayadı Village and Turkmens I am a member of.

Şambayadı Village, birth, religious and magical practice, al karısı (alp/nightmare), kırklama.