Some of the Cultural Traditions of Turkey

 

CAMEL WRESTLING

The physical and psychological changes observed in certain months of the year in the male camel, an animal bred for its wool, milk, skin and meat in many parts of the world, has led to the organisation of camel wrestling events. Camel wrestling, which takes place in the western region of Turkey in an area extending from Çanakkale to Antalya is part and parcel of the rich texture of our national traditions.

The breed of camel known as tülü, which is the one used for wrestling, is obtained by crossing two other breeds, both of which are dromedaries. The hair of the latter is comparatively long. Camels. which are dromedaries. The hair of the latter is comparatively long. Camels, which are self-sacrifing creatures, have given rise to such saying as He’s not a camel to get his throat cut in seven places, and are also known for the grudges they harbour. When camels are angry they spit, kick and buck. Male camels have slimy pouches filled with air on either side of their mouths. In the cold winter months, which is also the mating season, there is jealousy as well as anger. Rival males who are trying to engage the attention of a female begin to quarrel. This is when man, who is keen on getting animals to fight, takes advantage of the seasonal changes he observes in the male camel and encourages them to fight each other. The people of Anatolia, who set bulls and cockerels, rams and billy-goats to fight each other, created a different tradition in the area they lived in with camel wrestling. Camel wrestling events are still a colorful feature of life in the Çanakkale, Balıkesir, İzmir, Manisa and Aydın provinces of the country. Most of these events, at which the camels are introduced by name and a list of their past successes and championships read out, take place in the months of December and February. There is real communication between the spectators and the camels they are watching so closely. The camel encourages the spectator and the spectator encourages the camel.

The tülü camels, which do not usually work as beasts of burden and bear certain hereditary wrestler characteristics are brought to the ring with a great deal of pomp and ceremony, sumptuously caparisoned with a great deal of local ornamentation. Infinite pains have been taken to dress each camel like a bridgegroom. Some of them show off fine examples of Anatolian metalwork, others proudly display bells that are family heirlooms. There are some whose chests swell with pride at the effect produced by the mirrors sewn to their blankets . Then a female camel is brought to the arena to arose the males and make them even more aggressive. Here, as everywhere else, it is the female that initiates the first movement.

Various rules were introduced to camel wrestling in the course of time. First there was a panel of judges who matched the camels against each other with their past victories, wrestling technique and weight in mind, in other words, several categories were created created. These judges were also authorised to separate the camels if necessary and to decide which was the winner. They are also responsible for preventing the victor from hurting or trampling on his defeated rival. From time to time the referee announces the camels, giving their nicknames, telling their life stories and encouraging the spectators.

Then there are the rope-holders. These men hold restraining ropes in their hands, thus preventing the camels from harming spectators and, when necessary separating the camels. A number of bets are placed by spectators in the days leading up to the event and this reaches a peak just before the bout begins. The camels are walked are around the paddock, then taken into the ring. The rivals then prance round trying to provoke each other then finally plunge forward and are locked in combat, grunting and foaming at the mouth. They are muzzled so that they will not bite each other. Trained camels know a number of moves such as how to trip their rival, how to force his submission, how to throw him to the ground by pushing their head between his legs, how to force him to his knees by means of head and neck power. Sayings such as as daft as a camel have no foundation, for camels are extremely intelligent creatures and their necks endow them with unexpected subtlety. It is quite exiting to watch how they make use of this subtlety. during the wrestling bout. The defeated camel is the one whose back touches the ground when he falls, who flees from the ring the ring, or who fails to continue the fight when he has risen after a fall. When camels are wrestling they are also putting on a display for the benefit of spectators. This is why camels who have a showy style, who know how to please their public, enjoy the same fame as boxers.

The camels at the Seljuk Camel Wrestling Event used to wrestle in the ancient amphitheatre at Ephesus until this was recently prohibited. Just think of two camels wrestling on the stage of an amphitheatre accommodating 25.000 spectators where Elektra is also performed.

Turkish Baths



The Turkish bath or hamam is an atmospheric world all its own in the midst of the modern bustling city. Everyone who sets foot in here surrenders to the water in a voluntary form of captivity, for the process of purification of not just the body but also the soul.

Upon entering the door you find yourself in the camekan, a hall lined with changing cubicles. In an old-fashioned hamam this is the most impressive part, with a drinking fountain in the centre or sometimes a marble pool with a water jet. Before your encounter with water can start you must undress in one of the cubicles and wrap your body in a cotton or silk bathing cloth known as a pestimal. Then you are ready to go into the bath, which is reached through an antechamber called the soğukluk where there is a room for shaving, lavatories and a tea stall selling beverages.

When the door to the bath proper, known as the sıcaklık or harrare, opens you find yourself in a high room filled with the sound of splashing water, the scent of soap, and wafting steam through which daily concerns and worries cannot penetrate. In the gentle moist heat your body relaxes, and your nerves are soothed. You sit down at one of the marble wash basins which line the walls, and adjusting the temperature of the water to a delicious warmth, dip the copper bathing bowl into the basin and tip the water over your head and body. Waves of relaxation seem to pour right through you as the water ripples down.

From the score or more tiny circular glass lights in the dome an enchanted luminous light filters down into the bath. The long narrow rays pierce through the dim heights of the dome and play all day long on the stone platform known as the göbek taşı in the centre of the room.

When you have finished washing stretch out on this platform, which is heated from beneath. Soon the heat will have opened the pores in your skin, and the bath attendant (known as a natır in a women’s bath and a tellak in the male establishment) will come along carrying a bath glove made of coarse raw silk. Entrust your body to their skilled hands as they vigorously rub away the layer of dead skin, then soap and rinse you well. If asked they will go on to give you a massage. After being kneaded from top to toe on top of the relaxing effect of all that hot water you naturally begin to feel delightfully sleepy. The Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo describes this as a state of unimaginable bliss, and says that when he came out of the hamam his body which had been ‘taken to pieces and put together again, soaped from head to foot, rinsed, dried, and relieved of tension’ felt like wearing a new suit of clothes.

Baths served as health centres among the ancient Greeks and have been an important part of daily life in Istanbul since Roman and Byzantine times. Under the Romans, Byzantines baths were more than places to wash, but social clubs where people met their friends and conversed or argued over politics. Like hippodromes and theatres they were places where people gathered to enjoy themselves. This social aspect of the bath continued into Ottoman times, when large numbers of hamams were constructed all over the empire. Now people gathered together either in the Turkish bath or in coffee houses. 

The ritual of the weekly expedition to the bath house involved elaborate preparations. Only the rich could afford the luxury of a private hamam supplied with hot running water attached to their homes, so the majority of families went to the public baths. For women, in particular, whose lives were confined to their homes, families, visits to neighbours and shopping, a day spent at the bath was an entertaining occasion to be looked forward to from week to week. The women and children of the family, perhaps with their friends or neighbours, set out early in the morning for the neighbourhood bath carrying their bundles of clean clothes and a picnic of stuffed vegetables, pickles, savoury pastries and şerbet. After spending a leisurely morning washing, this delicious food prepared the previous day was spread out in the antechamber. The remainder of the day would be spent dressing the hair, napping and chatting, and then towards sundown the party would make its way home.

The seclusion of women which was practised so strictly in Ottoman towns and cities was reflected in the architecture of the hamam. Naturally it was unthinkable that men and women should bathe together, so either baths catered entirely for one of the sexes, or large double baths known as çifte hamam were built with separate sections for men and women. The men’s section of the latter had a large ornate entrance opening onto the main street, while the women’s section had a plain one opening modestly onto a side street.

The 17th century Turkish traveller and writer Evliya Çelebi recorded that there were 151 hamams in Istanbul. A bath house was a lucrative source of income, which may explain why so many were built. Their consumption of water and fire wood for the furnace rose to such heights that in the 18th century the government took measures to restrict their numbers.

Let us take a brief look at some of the most notable of Istanbul’s Turkish baths. The oldest in the city is the Irgat Hamam built during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror (1451-1481), while the only hamam to have been built on the foundations of an earlier Byzantine bath is Yıldız Dede Hamam in Bahçekapı. One of the most magnificent of all hamams is the 16th century Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamam situated between Haghia Sophia and Sultan Ahmed Mosque. This hamam is no longer in use, instead housing a carpet shop. Excavations nearby revealed the remains of the famous Byzantine Zeuksippos Bath.

Just past the great underground cistern known as Yerebatan Sarayı is Cağaloğlu Hamam, whose baroque architecture and bath ‘tours’ with belly dancing and dinner inclusive have made it a popular tourist attraction. This hamam was built in 1741, the last to be built before the construction of large hamams was prohibited in 1768.

Çemberlitaş Hamam on Divanyolu was built by the celebrated Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in 1584 and is famous for its interior decoration. Part of the camekan of the women’s section of this hamam was knocked down to make way for a road during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz (1860-1876). A hamam of historic importance which is still in use today is Galatasaray Hamam in Beyoğlu. This hamam was constructed in 1715 for men only, although later on a small women’s section was added. It is also unique as the only hamam in Istanbul to have been awarded a certificate by the Ministry of Tourism. However, it is not unique in having a website. You may be as surprised as I was to learn that most of these large hamams are on the Internet.

The dizzying speed of modern life has made the leisurely hamam bath a luxury few can spare time for today. But there are still some Turkish people who go regularly for a real bath. Next time you are in Istanbul and want to feel that lightness of being which only a Turkish bath can impart, then take time out from sightseeing for a few hours and head for the nearest hamam. 

Source: 

Temples to the body
by Emel Çelebi,
Skylife 11/98