A Folklore Study on Traditional Grape Molasses Production in Silifke Uzuncaburc

Uzuncaburc, which is connected to the Silifke district of Mersin, is an old settlement that goes back to the previous periods of BCE. At the time when the Turks started to settle in Anatolia, the main sources of livelihood were agriculture and animal husbandry in Uzuncaburc, where nomadic Turkmen settled. Local people who feed animals such as goat and sheep have grown wheat, barley and chickpeas as agricultural products. However, these are not the only agricultural products grown by the people of the region. There is also a viticulture outside. There is a large amount of vineyards, especially in the center and around the settlement. In this context, there is almost no family in the region. The main reason why viticulture is so widespread is that Uzuncaburc has a deep-rooted culture of viticulture, whose origins go back to the previous periods of the Turks. The aim of this article is to determine the traditional molasses production methods in the region and to investigate the cultural dimension of this production. In this study, molasses production and ethnographic tools used during this production and oral culture products that were produced were determined and examined in terms of tradition by field research method. As a result of this study, it was determined that the people of Uzuncaburc continued the tradition of viticulture they took over from the previous inhabitants of the region.