Turkish Traditions

Throughout the years we have blogged about Turkish traditions. As expats, it took us a while to get used to them, we now know them but they still are exotic :)

I've listed this table in our Home shop. It is called a sofra in Turkish, it is a floor table. Traditionally there were no normal tables in Turkish homes. A  wooden piece like this or just a round ring would be put on the floor, then a large piece of cloth and on top of that a circular tray with all the food brought in from the kitchen. We have one of those as well in the shop.

Soup gets served in bowls but all the other food is eaten directly from the pans, no one gets a plate. Bread is crucial at the Turkish sofra, a Turk does not feel full without bread :) And plates get al cleaned up with bread. The cloth is where everyone 'goes under', the cloth covers the legs and prevents crumbs to fall on the floor, it is a big sin to step on bread so this is a precaution for that as well as an easy cleanup.

The sofra has no limit on how many people can sit around it. Those that are full get up and those who come later can slide right in. Surprise guests are normal. No chairs mean just sitting a little closer when it gets crowded. The sofra is now seen as the poor's table, they say that you get full quicker as your stomach get suppressed by sitting in such a position. When the meal is over the sofra is hung on the wall, occupying no floor space.

Our sofra is pretty unique, it has hand-painted and torched details. Would look great in a bohemian home with floor cushions.

Nowadays sofra's are made of MDF with collapsable plastic legs, not so pretty, or you even have them entirely made out of plastic :(

Old Turkish Tradition

I've just listed a beautiful large tray in our home decor shop.
This tray is handmade with carving and stamping in gorgeous motives. Most people know these from Morocco but they were also made here. Their purpose was as dinner table.

First a plaid table cloth was put on the floor or on the legs, then wooden legs and then, full with food would come the tray. People would sit around it and cover their legs with the table cloth to prevent breadcrumbs and such to fall on the floor.

(image source: wikipedia)
Everyone eats from the same plates, except for soup. And even though these pretty trays are not used anymore this way of eating is still very common especially in villages but also in cities. It has the advantage that no large table with chairs are occupying the house and when you have guests you just st a little closer to make room for more people. Also less dishes are required. But it is also just an old habit, and people who are used to this find tables uncomfortable. Today they are usually made of wood and have collapsible feet attached to them.

 Once dinner is over the tray goes back to the kitchen, so no walking back and forth as all go at once. The legs are flattened and stored till the next meal.

 In magazines you usually see them as coffee tables, or against a wall. (image source: Paulina Arcklin)

Or hanging on a wall, our tray can be used in all those ways :)

(image sources: the nest and Nikey Kahoe)

Turkish Traditions

One of the things that makes a different country exotic is often the traditions. In Turkey there are religious holidays but there are also Republic holidays established by the first president of Turkey, Atatürk (litterally translated: Father of all the Turks).
Ome of them is April 23, the day for the children.
This day involves dances prepared for weeks before hand. I think the parents enjoy this more then the children, it is a day that they can proudly show of their child.

I think the children would rather be on their skateboard or playing games on their computer, but they do get alot of extra attention :)

These days are always messy with lots of music and people and food of course.
Funny enough 23rd of April the weather is always sunny and is the start of Summer.

I didn't take much pictures of the dance it self but more of the cute mess beforehand. As it all started much later then anticipated the children started to get tired and overheated with their layers of traditional costumes.

The dances are traditionally a serious act so the children look very serious too, which is quiet funny to look at.

Next holiday will be 19th of May the day of youth and sports, where simular activities will be taken place :)

Monday Moodboard

1. alekaki  2. foldi  3. LandofDante  4. ayawedding

I love the color of eggplant, I also love it as food. There are alot of meals in Turkey involving eggplant.
I found some English recipes of Turkish meals, like karniyarik (stuffed eggplants), eggplant salad, and mousakka, although I'm not sure if that is originally Turkish as you also have it in other countries too. Bon appétit!

Wishing you a wonderful week!

You can easily make your moodboard with the mosaic maker.
Please be sure that all featured shops are from the EuropeanStreetTeam, after making your post just leave the link here by clicking on the 'add your link' button.

A la Turka

 

While Turkey is a country that produces its own cotton,and has a large textile industry for the export, it is really hard to find cotton fabrics. Only a few traditional fabrics, like these lovely and colorful flannels are made from cotton.

 

This kind of fabric was first woven in the Haliç neighbourhood in Istanbul in the 1800's. It is called 'pazen' or 'divitin', from the french 'duvet', indicating that it is soft to the touch like a feather.

 

Used mostly for traditional long skirts and şalvars, pazen was never a high fashion product but more used in the country side.

For a very long time, pazen was only used in rural areas with traditional dress, till 2002, when the beautiful Azra Akin became Miss World wearing a pazen dress designed by the couturier Cemil Ipekci. The dress was also choosen best dress in the world competition, and pazen became well known outside Turkey.

Still when we go to fabric shops people often are suprised when we especially ask for pazen, instead of shiny satens and polyester.

We have started a new collection of bags using this traditional fabric and oya, the gorgeous hand made lace used to edge the scarves of the rural women.

This is not the first time that we are using traditional Turkish materials, we blogged about our oya collection several years ago.

European Union :)

A friend mailed us these photographs and they are sooo good that we couldn’t keep them from you.
Life in Turkey has been very trying sometimes and we have had great difficulties understanding the way things get done here. If you look at the pictures you can imagine why.

Are this people stupid? No, of course not. They are…different!!
This one is the best: