Rites of Reintegration: Building Shrines and Cooking Votive Meals Among the Alawites in Hatay, Turkey

The Alawite veneration sites scattered throughout Hatay, Turkey are referred to as ziyaret yeri (visiting place), makam (shrine), or türbe (tomb). In the vicinity of these places, people sacrifice animals and prepare votive meals, notably harisa, during over a hundred religious holidays a year. While these places and practices possess timeless spiritual qualities, most structures have been built relatively recently, mostly by returning migrant workers from the Gulf. Since the 1980 coup in Turkey, many male members of the community have migrated to Arabic-speaking countries, often enduring harsh working conditions and long periods of family separation. When these migrant workers are returning home, either temporarily or permanently, many contribute financially to building sacred sites and cooking votive meals.

I propose the shrine construction booms and devotional cooking of votive meals, particularly harisa, since the 1990s as the rite of reintegration for those workers and further discuss different layers of meanings. I will first discuss types of returns- short family visits and permanent returns, which often come after purchasing land, building their family house, or retiring. Further more I address the questions such as, 'What does it mean to return?', 'What motivates these rites of return?', 'How are building shrines and cooking votive food relevant in this discussion?'

The second part of my discussion engages with ways of offerings and vows based on ethnographic field research. Some acts of devotion are one-time events, such as building a shrine or distributing votive food, while others are annual dedications that continue for a lifetime. Affluent individuals sponsor the major holiday of Gadir-i Hum each year, whereas a villager may buy and raise a calf for a year to fulfil his devotion. What is the moral hierarchy of types of offerings and vows? Can money buy one's beneficence (hayır)?