Prayers are good wishes that reflect submission and faith, and indicate hope. Prayers are used in every stage of life, from birth to death. Contrary to prayers, maledictions include bad and negative words a person says to his/her addressee out of anger, pain and sadness. Maledictions are the verbal expression of the sadness and anger of a helpless person. In addition, maledictions are a way for a person who has been subjected to injustice or cruelty to comfort himself/herself. Prayers and maledictions, like other products of oral culture, are the product of a tradition and their history goes back centuries. While some prayers and maledictions carry the traces of Shamanism and ancient Turkish belief system, prayers have particularly been accepted and adopted more than maledictions under the influence of Islamic culture. Prayers and maledictions are frequently used words in minstrel poetry, manis, lullabies, ballads, folk tales and epics, as well as being evaulated individually. Some prayers and maledictions are known by everyone and show a general characteristic, however, there are also prayers and maledictions that vary according to regions and are affected by the customs and traditions, beliefs and lifestyle of the regions. Bayburt folk culture has prayers and maledictions that are integrated with folk beliefs and are particularly used in manis and minstrel poetry. The present study reviewed the prayers and maledictions determined in Bayburt folk culture under different topics and classified each of them within themselves. In addition, the study gave examples to the use of prayers in folk beliefs and practices, manis and minstrel poems.

Bayburt, malediction, prayer, folk culture.