Jiare / Jare / Ziyaret – Feminine Sacred Places & the Dersim 38 Memorial (Berlin)

This video approaches the concept of jiare (ziyaret), one of the fundamental pillars of Alevi belief, from a women’s perspective. Female-centered pilgrimage sites located in the regions of Erzincan and Dersim—Bağır Ana, Jara Sure, Tapa Qure, Kızıl Gelin, Xaskar Ana, Jele Ana, and Buyer Ana—are addressed both as concrete manifestations of feminine figures in the Batın world and as carriers of collective memory. Annual visitation rituals are conveyed together with practices shaped under women’s leadership; the sense of sacredness and resistance expressed through Kirmancki poetry deepens the emotional resonance of the narrative. Extending to the Dersim 38 Memorial in Berlin, the video emphasizes that the concept of ziyaret is not only religious but also a historical and political form of remembrance. This narrative reinterprets the jiare cult within Batın cosmology through feminine figures and attributes a distinctive women’s memory to Alevi religious practice.

This recording was made on 10–11 May 2025 at the Dortmund Alevi Cultural Center (DAKME), within the framework of the Pirler–Analar Workshop organized for the Alevi Encyclopedia project under the Rıza Şehri Academy.