04841nas a2200193   4500008004100000022002000041245010800061210006900169300001400238490000800252520419400260653001804454653001704472653000804489653001004497653000904507100001304516856011804529       2022                        eng d  a13003984 (ISSN)00aSacred Space, Ritual and Food: The Rain Prayer Practices and Zomata Custom in Türkmen Baba, Eskişehir0 aSacred Space Ritual and Food The Rain Prayer Practices and Zomat  a135–1470 v1353 aSacred places, namely the Center, have always attracted the attention of humanity. Here, the aspirants seek the solution of the problem they cannot overcome in real life, sometimes with full faith and sometimes with half faith. While some of the holy places are included in the worship principles of the official religion, some places can be seen as folk religion or superstition. Sometimes, some practices in places accepted by the official religion are rejected. However, the aspirant who wants to experience the transformative power of the holy place also finds a solution: syncretism. These syncretic practices can sometimes be performed even by aspirants belonging to two different religions. The important point is that the holy place has enough fame. Many holy places are still visited, but with the acceleration of migration from rural to urban, it is a matter of curiosity how and how long they will maintain their past fame and protection due to urban life and technology. Turkmen Baba cult can be accepted as a part of cultural continuity in Eskişehir with similar examples from the Turkish world to Anatolia as a reflection of the unity of the ancestral culture with the belief in Islam. The "Türkmen Baba" on the mountain peak between the Dağküplü and Tandır villages in Eskişehir was made a sacred site for Hacet holiday and rain prayer by thirteen villages people and a number of rituals were developed around it. Rituals, in terms of both religiously and socially, have the power to regulate people's behavior among them-selves and the relationship between human beings and supernatural beings. The places where the rituals take place also carry the "central symbolism" feature, especially as M. Eliade describes. An important means of linking ritual dimension to the relationships which we can divide as human-god, human-supernatural, human-human is "food". From first time to the present, from the primitive to the modern, food has multi-dimensional functions. "Zomata", a part of ritual in terms of arranging the social relations of those gathering for the Hacet / rain prayer around Türkmen Baba, has a versatile function. Those who prepare and eat Zomata do not know who contributes. The aim is to ensure that people from every economic level "come together" by social function. Thus, crowded group of people is very important in terms of ritualization for especially hacet (wish, need) / rain prayer. The secret power lies here in terms of the food of function of gathering. Those who live abroad but cannot come to the holiday also make an economical contribution to ritual life. Zomata is remarkable both in terms of preparation and presentation. Two meals, pre-ceremony and pray and post-visit accompanied by prac-tices. The villagers who come together not only pray for rain, but also talk about the situation of villages, animals and fields, and look for solutions to their problems. Thus ends the ceremony. This ceremony is considered both as a prayer for rain, a prayer of gratitude, and a feast of hacet (need). Zomata culture seems to be adaptable to the new city in terms of redesigning the cultural heritage in urban life and ensuring unity and solidarity in the context of sustainability, intergenerational communication and solidarity by getting rid of the feeling of loneli-ness. Raising awareness can be achieved by taking more place in Turkey's rain prayer, visiting culture and charitable practices in the local inventories of the provinces and the Turkish National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage; it may also be considered to be submitted as a nomination file to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In this study, rituals such as Hıdırellez/hacet/rain prayer formed around Turkmen Baba, where the thirteen Yörük villages of Eskişehir came together as a sacred place of visit, and the food culture which is a part of these rituals were evaluated within the framework of UNESCO ICH and examined with structural-functional theory in the context of folklore. Data that were collected from fieldwork by observation and obtained from interviews with informants were supported by visuals.10aancestor cult10aFolk beliefs10aICH10asomat10atomb1 aKoç, A.  uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85139157697&partnerID=40&md5=d0fa230a5f8418177de3db896db9157f