‘Only the Body Dies, Souls Can Never Be Slain’: Beliefs and Rituals Regarding Death in Alevism

ABSTRACT The quest to understand and to overcome death reflects in beliefs and rituals, which vary across different perspectives. Death rituals involve actions performed for the deceased while also providing social support to the grieving members of the community during the mourning process. Throughout this mourning period, certain responsibilities must be fulfilled, alongside behaviours or objects that must be avoided. Addressing the phenomenon of death requires culturally specific practices based on certain principles such as washing the deceased, burial methods, the orientation and shape of the grave, and the positioning of the body within it. While each belief group shapes their mourning processes about death, they also have their explanations of the soul and the afterlife. This study examines the beliefs and rituals of death within Alevism. In Alevi belief, it is believed that the soul does not die; rather, it continues its existence in another human, plant, or animal body. In this research, in which the ethnographic approach was preferred, in‐depth interviews were conducted with eight Alevi dedes using semi‐structured questions. In Anatolian Alevism, the definition of death, the image of the afterlife, and the approach towards the body and soul play crucial roles in shaping funeral rituals. The belief in ‘devriye’ (the cyclical return of the soul) is a fundamental concept in the Alevi understanding of death. Instead of viewing death as total annihilation, Alevism uses the expression reaching the Hak (God) to symbolise a return to the essence of the original being. The research also examines the changes, transformations, and disappearance of death traditions under different cultural, political, and historical circumstances. Migration and urbanisation, together with modern life conditions and the contestation of dominant authority, have profoundly reshaped funerary rituals and other mourning practices within Alevism.