Nasreddin

For people with the name, see Nasir al-Din. For other uses, see Nasir al-Din (disambiguation).

A 17th-century miniature of Nasiruddin, from the collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum

Nasreddin (/næsˈrɛdɪn/[1]) or Nasreddin Hodja (other variants include: Mullah Nasreddin Hodja, Nasruddin Hodja, Mullah Nasruddin, Mullah Nasriddin, Khoja Nasriddin) (1208–1285) is a character in the folklore of the Muslim world from the Balkans to China, and a hero of humorous short stories and satirical anecdotes.[2] There are frequent statements about his existence in real life and even archaeological evidence in specific places, for example, a tombstone in the city of Akşehir, Turkey. At the moment, there is no confirmed information or serious grounds to talk about the specific date or place of Nasreddin's birth, so the question of the reality of his existence remains open.[3]

Nasreddin appears in thousands of stories, sometimes witty, sometimes wise, but in many of which he is presented as a (holy) fool or as the butt of a joke. A Nasreddin story usually has a subtle humour and a pedagogic nature.[4] The International Nasreddin Hodja festival is celebrated between 5 and 10 July every year in Akşehir.[5]

In 2020, an application to include "The tradition of telling comic tales about Nasreddin Khoja" in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list was jointly submitted by the governments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Türkiye and Turkmenistan.[6]

  1. ^ Turkish: Nasreddin Hoca, Ottoman Turkish: نصر الدين خواجه, Nasreddīn Hodja, Persian: خواجه نصرالدین, Pashto: ملا نصرالدین, Arabic: نصرالدین جحا / ALA-LC: Naṣraddīn Juḥā, Urdu: ملا نصر الدین / ALA-LC: Mullā Naṣru l-dīn, Uzbek Latin: Nosiriddin Xo'ja, Bosnian: Nasrudin Hodža, Albanian: Nastradin Hoxha, Nastradini, Romanian: Nastratin Hogea
  2. ^ Hunziker, Sara (2019). Ramona, Mihaila (ed.). Myth, Symbol, and Ritual: Elucidatory Paths to the Fantastic Unreality. University of Bucharest. pp. 357–361. ISBN 978-6-061-61037-2.
  3. ^ Attardo, Salvatore, ed. (2014). Encyclopedia of Humor Studies. SAGE Publications. pp. 108–111. ISBN 978-1-483-34617-5.
  4. ^ Javadi, Hasan. "MOLLA NASREDDIN i. THE PERSON". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Akşehir Belediyesi - Nasreddin Hoca Şenliği". aksehir.bel.tr. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011.
  6. ^ "Turkey submits four cultural values to UNESCO". Turkish Radio and Television Corporation. Retrieved 3 April 2020.