There are articles covering various aspects of Turkish culture and history to introduces this cultural link between European and Asian societies There is probably no culture in the world, which is free from the clutches of superstition and to counter these superstitions, in every culture you will find people taking recourse to charms and talismans. The Turkish Evil Eye Pendants or the "nazar boncugu" is the Turkish means of keeping at bay the ills brought on by envious and greedy eyes.
There are no dearth of skeptics to question the powers of lucky charms and talismans. Nor are there people who wouldn`t scoff at the idea of the eye being evil and there being actually a pendant to protect oneself from this evil. But the Turkish Evil Eye pendant has almost become a Turkish institution, given its widespread presence in the Turkish social echelons and the undying faith of the people in its protective powers. Turkish Whirling Dervishes.
Theatrical art in Turkey is currently believed to have developed from the same religious, moral and educational urge to imitate human actions that accompanied its growth in other countries, particularly in ancient Greece. The puppet shadow play, which involves two-dimensional puppets (figures) casting its shadow on a two-dimensional area of screen, had an important place in Turkey as well as throughout the larger area of the Ottoman Empire. To understand its place let us glance at four main traditions of theatre in Turkey. These are the “folk theatre tradition”, the “popular theatre tradition - shadow play (karagoz), storyteller”, the “court theatre tradition”, and the “western theatre tradition”. In order to understand the significance of Turkish puppets shadow play, these deserve special brief study.
