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Paper short abstract

This study explores how boundary violations between human, nature and the supernatural in the legends of Turkish world link sacred or cursed places, taboos, and rituals to disasters, highlighting their role in shaping identity and ecological memory.

Paper long abstract

Every society, much like individuals, constructs boundaries between itself and the external world in order to sustain harmony in physical and spiritual life. These boundaries regulate relations with the “other”—whether other communities, nature, or the supernatural. In the ancient Turkish belief system, such boundaries are guarded by "Tengri Bayülgen" and the "yer-su"(earth) spirits entrusted with protecting the earth. Within this system, transgressions of sacred rules—such as entering forbidden places, violating taboos, or neglecting ritual obligations—are not regarded as mere individual faults but as collective threats, believed to cause disasters that affect the entire community.

This paper examines how these boundary transgressions are narrated in the disaster legends of the Turkish World and how they are dramatized within cultural memory. Legends of earthquakes, floods, droughts, etc. not only as accounts of unusual natural events but also as moral commentaries on broken boundaries between the human, natural, and supernatural domains. These narratives operate in two significant ways. On the one hand, they delineate identity and belonging by reinforcing the distinction between “us” and “the other.” On the other hand, they serve as ecological warning systems, transmitting behavioral norms that protect natural resources: do not pollute sacred waters, do not cut the forest, respect the silence of the mountain.

By analyzing these legends, the paper shows how the threat of supernatural punishment shapes human–nature relations, reinforces social order, and contributes to ecological awareness in the cultural memory of the Turkish World.