Şeki Türbeleri

The sacred places have the special and undeniable place in the history of Turkic peoples' beliefs. The religious beliefs and faiths as a part of moral culture have been saved and preserved by people througout the centuries until our time. One of the ancient cities of Azerbaijan, Shaki, is among those historical cities which are still linked to their religious roots and reflect their material and moral cultures nowadays. During ethnographic research in the city, religious affection drew our attention among its local characteristics, which differed it from many other cities of Azerbaijan. In general, during the Soviet times, not only there was no attention to researches of places for pilgrimages in Azerbaijan, called "hearths" and "pirs" (sacred places) among population, but also actions were taken to erase such values from history and the people's memories. For this purpose, "Commission against religion" was set in 1924. The magazine named "Allahsiz" (Godless) was published and distributed to all regions and villages of Azerbaijan. Starting from 1920s and 1930s atheist ideology was widely propagated and numerous actions were taken to reduce the influence of Islam. People were, under compulsion, drifted apart from their ancient customs and traditions, hijabs and papakhs (male headdress) were forbidden, Koran and other religious books were burnt, mosques were converted into barns, warehouses and dance floors. Sayyids, mullahs, and other representatives of religion were persecuted, praying people were punished and those maintaining resistance were exiled. However, people were secretly following their faith and are currently free to pactice all the values they had once preserved. During the years of independence, we started to explore our cultural heritage according to ethnography in various towns and regions. One of the research objects is Shaki city, which has preserved Islamic traditions until present days; the fact that more than half of 12 mosques, located in various blocks of the city and most of them having ancient history, still operate, is an explicit evidence for it. Most Muslim shrines in Shaki have been built close by graves of religious figures, who promoted Islam. Beliefs in sanctity of these people some days in the past have resulted in their graves being turned into sources of faith. People, not only from neighboring regions, but also from various regions of Azerbaijan, visit these sacred places. Sacred places like Mammad Afandi, Yelbaba, Charshanba Ojagi (Tuesday hearth), Guldastah pilgrimage, Nurahmad Afandi, Haji Salman Afandi, Ibrahim Afandi, Galeychi Baba, Noyul Baba, Su Akhin Baba, Sheikh Ahmad Afandi, Salim Ami, Daghdivi shrines, Babaratma piri, Oskurma piri, Shikhahmad piri, and Nartopu shrines are consistently visited by people and draw great attention for their historical significance, mystic meaningfulness formed among people, rites and ceremonies, etc. Although, majority of them have been created around the graves of the holy persons, a part of them has been associated with the natural phenomena, and related to the stone, tree, water and other cults. Such type of belief sources are also met in the moral culture of other Turkic nations. Within the research made in the article, along with using ethnographyc materials collected directly from the local population, at the same time, the scientific literature on this topic has also been referred to.