By the decision of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Folklore of ANAS, the III book of the series “Folklore of the Western Azerbaijan” was published. The book includes examples of folklore collected during business trips organized in Baku, Tartar and Yevlakh regions in 2024. The book consists of the sections such as “Ethnographic texts”, “Mythological texts”, “Legends and legends”, “Memories”, “Tales”, “Jokes”,  “Epics and ashiq legends”, “Beliefs”, “Riddles”,  “Proverbs and sayings”. 

In the section “Ethnographic texts” the clear picture of the region’s Novruz holiday, wedding and mourning customs, different traditions, West Azerbaijani cuisine and folk calendar was created on the basis of materials written by residents of West Azerbaijan. In the section “Memories” information was given about the calamities of the residents of the Western Azerbaijan – the massacres of 1905-1918, deportations of 1948-1952, 1988-1991.

Since folklore materials are given from the language of the residents of the region, these texts are an invaluable source for studying the West Azerbaijani dialects and the processes taking place in them.

Each folklore sample originated and developed within regional traditions. Observations show that the separation of the Western Azerbaijanis from the geographical region to which they belong has led to the collapse of the ethnographic environments that created and kept the Western Azerbaijani folklore alive.

The book was published in the publishing house “Elm”. The collector and compiler of the book is PhD, associate professor Ilkin Rustamzade and the scientific editor is PhD, Associate Professor Aziz Alakbarli.

Any specialist dealing with the folklore, culture, history and language of the Western Azerbaijan can use this book as a source.