SÖYLENCE İLE GERÇEKLİK ARASINDA: 19. YÜZYIL OSMANLI MİZAH BASININDA KARAFERYE CADILARI

Abstract

The basic definition of the creatures that came to life after death in the Ottoman Empire is the concept of “witch”. However, studies on this subject tend to explain the concept of “witch” with the concept of “vampire”. The main reason for this tendency is the expansion in the meaning of the concept of “witch” in the last quarter of the 19th century. These two concepts, whose basic characteristics are similar, are used interchangeably to define the same phenomenon in social life. The last witch event recorded in the Ottoman lands in the 19th century is the “Witches of Veliko Tarnova”. However, in that century there are news that two witch cases took place in Karaferye of Thessaloniki in 1872 and 1874. This study deals with the approach of newspapers and magazines of the period related to the mentioned news. The focus of the study is humor magazines. In the second half of the 19th century, the concepts of the definition of “witch” concept in Ottoman society were analyzed through humor magazines.