Söğüt logosu

Söğüt / Festival

One week a year, the town fills up

The Ertuğrul Gazi Commemoration and Söğüt Festival — also known as the Yörük Festival — traditionally runs for three days in the second week of September. The 744th was held in 2025.

For fifty-one weeks of the year Söğüt is a quiet district. In the remaining week its population multiplies, the main street closes, and the town carries its own founding story out into the open.

The festival procession on Söğüt's main street: riders, Turkish flags and pennants bearing the Kayı mark amid the crowd.
The main street on festival day. The procession moves from the town centre towards the tomb.

Seven hundred years in the same place

This festival did not begin as a municipal event. Those belonging to the Kayı tribe, and the Karakeçili in particular, made the tomb a place of visitation after Ertuğrul Gazi's death and came here for centuries to hold feasts and to remember their ancestors with jereed and wrestling.

The festival's number comes from that: each year one more than the last, counted from 1281, the year of Ertuğrul Gazi's death. The one held in 2025 was the 744th. That is why it is counted among the most deeply rooted local ceremonies in Türkiye held without interruption.

In the nineteenth century the tradition was taken up by the state. Under Abdul Hamid II a guard unit called the "Söğüt Regiment", made up of Karakeçili from Söğüt and its surroundings, was formed at the Yıldız Palace. The thorough restoration that gave the tomb its present appearance also falls in the same sultan's reign. The festival's official form today was largely shaped in that period.

The festival's other name is the Yörük Festival. Both names are used in official announcements; it is the same event.

When?

The festival is traditionally held in the second week of September, over three days. The 744th took place on 12-14 September 2025. The exact days are set anew each year and can change.

Always confirm the dates. Before setting out, check the announcements of the Söğüt District Governorship and the Söğüt Municipality. Accommodation fills quickly during festival week; if nothing is available in the district, central Bilecik and Bozüyük are alternatives.

What fits into three days?

The festival runs three days and each has a different weight. The 744th (12-14 September 2025) went like this:

  • Day one — openingYörük and Turkmen associations arrive in the district, the encampment is set up, and the opening programme is held. Participation from 71 provinces was reported in 2025.
  • Day two — displays and pilafJereed contest and mounted archery displays (3.30 pm on the Saturday in 2025). The day closes with the "Opening of the Healing Pilaf Cauldron" ceremony, performed with prayers.
  • Day three — the main ceremonyThe Yörük procession, the visit to the tomb, the official programme on the ceremonial ground and the distribution of pilaf. This is the day of the densest crowds.

Concerts are held in the evenings; Semicenk performed in 2025. The concert programme changes each year and is announced officially.

How the ceremony runs

The programme changes from year to year, but the backbone is the same. The final day runs as follows:

  • Yörük processionFrom the town centre to the Ertuğrul Gazi Tomb. At the front the Mehter band and the Ertuğrul Banner, behind them the jereed team, Yörüks in national dress, folklore groups and officials.
  • Visit to the tombThe tomb is visited together, and the company then moves to the ceremonial ground.
  • Silence and the National AnthemThe official opening on the ceremonial ground.
  • Official speechesThe governor, the district governor, the mayor and invited speakers.
  • Mehter concertIn some years the Turkish Armed Forces band performs, in others the Gendarmerie General Command band.
  • Jereed displaysMounted jereed, the most watched part of the festival.
  • Folk dancesYörük dances and performances by visiting folklore groups.
  • Official paradeThe participating groups pass through the ceremonial ground.
  • Healing pilafThe pilaf prepared beforehand is distributed. The ceremony ends with this.
  • A soloist in red Mehter costume beating a drum, mallets in the air; behind him the Mehter band and the crowd.
    The Mehter performance. The loudest part of the festival on the street.
  • Riders carrying the Turkish flag and a banner move down the street; a young man walks beside them.
    Riders carrying the banner.
  • A janissary re-enactor in a gilded helmet and armour holding a sword; behind him the Mehter band in red.
    A janissary re-enactment in period dress.

The healing pilaf

The ceremony closes with a meal, and this is the festival's most talked-about tradition. The healing pilaf is cooked in the village of Küre, in the district of Söğüt. The work begins with the village imam's prayer.

The scale is serious: about four tonnes of bulgur were reported used in 2024, and distribution to a hundred thousand people was the target in 2025. As of 2024 the villagers had been doing this for thirty-two years.

The pilaf has a ceremony of its own: the "Traditional Opening of the Healing Pilaf Cauldron". It is performed with prayers and closes the second day of the programme. Although it is an official moment attended by senior figures of state, at heart it is a village tradition — it is villagers who cook the pilaf and villagers who hand it out.

The pilaf is free and open to all. You need only join the queue on the ceremonial ground.

The axe and the Kayı mark

Two objects you will meet more than any other during the festival: the axe carried on the shoulder and the Kayı mark (IYI) upon it. It appears everywhere, from the guards at the tomb gate to the companies in the procession.

The mark is made of two vertical strokes with a Y between them. In Söğüt it stands at the centre of the town's visual identity — from carpet motifs to street signs, from the pennants on the lamp posts to these axes.

  • Close-up of an axe carried on the shoulder; the Kayı mark (IYI) is worked into its blade, with the tomb gate behind.
    The Kayı mark (IYI) on the axe blade.
  • Guards lined up in a row, each carrying a marked axe on the shoulder.
    The line of guards.
  • Two guards facing one another at the gate of the Ertuğrul Gazi Tomb; on the left, guests lined up for the ceremony.
    The guard at the tomb gate.

The Yörüks

The festival is not called the Yörük Festival for nothing. Yörük and Turkmen associations come to Söğüt from every corner of the country; participation from 71 provinces was reported in 2025.

On part of the ceremonial ground a Yörük encampment is set up: tents, weaving looms, an area where the daily life of the period is re-enacted. A henna night and scenes of Yörük life are part of the programme.

  • A bearded Yörük in a fur cap, wearing leather armour and fur, among the crowd.
    A Yörük in the procession.
  • Guards in period dress standing in a row, hands on their chests, observing a silence.
    The silence.
  • The Mehter band in red and navy walks down the street; at the front the bandmaster carrying the çevgân staff.
    The Mehter band in the procession.

The ceremonial ground

The main programme takes place on the ceremonial ground, reached after the visit to the tomb. The stands fill; the Mehter band, the jereed, the folk dances and the official parade all happen here.

  • The Turkish Armed Forces Mehter Band on the ceremonial ground; behind them, full stands.
    The Mehter band on the ceremonial ground.
  • Wide view of the ceremonial ground: groups lined up on the field, white canopies and stands behind.
    A wide view of the ground.
  • A folklore group dancing on the field in seymen costume.
    A seymen performance.
  • A women's folklore group in green costume, holding shields, lined up on the field.
    A women's folklore group.
  • The Gendarmerie General Command Mehter Band performing on the ceremonial ground.
    The Gendarmerie Mehter band.

Practical notes for visitors

  • During festival week traffic and parking are a serious problem in the town centre. If you can, park outside the centre and walk in.
  • The ceremonial grounds are largely open air; a hat, water and comfortable shoes will serve you well.
  • The procession starts early in the morning. You need to arrive early for a good spot.
  • The museum and some buildings may close temporarily because of the programme. If you want to see the buildings at leisure, a date outside the festival is better.
  • The crowd at the tomb ceremony is dense; the usual rules of respect apply.

Why it matters

The festival is one of the few local traditions in which a historical narrative is kept alive for one week a year. That is also why Söğüt draws far more attention than its population would suggest: the town is the address of a story larger than itself.

Sources

The order of ceremony and the historical information on this page are drawn from the following sources:

The programme changes each year; check the official announcements for exact dates and content.