Haci Bektas Veli Commemoration Ceremony

The Hacibektas festival has become, in the last decade, the main public event of Alevism in Turkey. It is characterized both by its undetermined nature between religion, culture, folklore and politics, and by the diversity of its participants and scenes. The process of assertion of a contested identity and negotiation of public space are vital to understanding Alevism as it exists today.

Mystic, humanist, philosopher, Saint Haci Bektas Veli, is the founder of the influential Bektasi sect of dervishes and the leader of an Islamic philosophy and social class in the 13th century. He had a great impact on Anatolian humanism. His teachings become known as Bektasism. Haci Bektas Veli was the one who dedicated himself to the people, the rural society, thus serving as a promoter of Turkish language and literature. During the 3 day festival from the 16th to the 18th of August, he is recalled at his hometown Hacibektas.