Traces of the Cultural Journey of "Kayiperenler" (The Invisible Saints)

Abstract

In this research we will examine Kayiperenler (The Invisible Saints) which are accepted as guardian souls and which appear with various duties in different historical and religious stories of Turkish Culture. I will introduce a new duty of them in Western Aegean. Therefore, the questions are "Who are Kayiperenler? What is their place and meaning in Turkish oral culture? And what is the new duty identified?". I holistically discussed, as much as the size of an article permits, their " finding the lost" duty which was not discussed before but I had detected in Western Aegean with a recognition of Alevi Bektasi tradition and Sufism in Turkish life under the influence of Islam, in sagas in mythological periods, starting from the historical perspective of Kayiperen acceptance by the public. In accordance to a practice I experienced in with my family members for many years in Tire, Odemis and Manisa regions, if anybody has a wish to find a lost thing or creature and is helpless to do so, they call Kayiperenler for help with some special prayers. It is claimed that after this ritual they find the lost. Another subject of the article is "Why these supernatural creatures have such a duty to find the lost in humans' life and if their influential and existential region changes. In the article the subject of Kayiperenler has been examined by methods of written source search, field study, oral interview and surveys via social media.