Death is a phenomenon that every living being will face at the end of their lives. The existence of death and life after death, which is an unchangeable reality for human beings, and how this life after death will be have occupied the minds of societies for centuries. Of course, while this preoccupation has envisioned how the other world will be like, it has also been very effective in shaping the life in this world. Many societies have different practices and rituals for death, which is the last of stages we call as transition periods. Funerals are an integral part of every society and culture. The belief in life after death is also reflected in funeral ceremonies. Many practices which have survived from old Turkish belief systems to the present continue to exist in different forms. One of these practices is the tradition of lamenting. Determining what kind of attitude is taken against death based on both words and behaviors gives important clues in showing how culture has evolved. It is a known fact that usually women lament in funerals in many part of Anatolia. These lamenting women come to the house of the deceased person and lament, whether the deceased is a relative or someone they do not know at all. These laments are expressed in a wide range from personal characteristics of the deceased to the good deeds of the deceased. Revealing what kind of changes and transformations has taken place in lamenting, which is a death practice with Turkish cultural codes and which provides important data in understanding these codes, is the essence of the present study. The main purpose of lamentation is telling the good deeds of the deceased, in addition to motivating the people in the house of the deceased to cry and creating an atmosphere of mourning here. It is obvious that there will be negative thoughts about a house with a deceased person in which no crying act takes place. Funeral Weeping Association, which was established for crying at the funerals of individuals who are not liked due to things they do which are not approved by the society especially in big cities, performs the ritual of crying for a certain fee. The fact that such as association has been established is extremely remarkable in terms of revealing the change in death traditions and practices from the old Turkish society to our day.

Turkish culture, death, lamenting, Funeral Weeping Association, change.