The formation of Alevi syncretism

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the formation of Alevi syncretism by examining historical facts and religious interactions. By understanding how Alevis adapted various cultural, religious and social phenomena, and how they have reflected these phenomena on their practices and social representation, almost ten-century-old heterodox Alevi syncretism’s nature will be comprehended. Since the Cem Ceremony signifies the reflection and representation of all influential features’ unification, it has a significant role in Alevi understanding. The concept of syncretism, which indicates Alevis’ opposition to the concepts like ‘true faith’ and ‘absolute Truth’ of orthodoxy, reveals itself throughout the study. Like in the notion of birlik (oneness) of God-human-universe, with its inextricable components Alevism represents the ‘unity’ of all religious and political features that contributed to its formation.