IntroductIon
Handicraft has been existed since the beginning of the human being and varied depending on the environment conditions. It has given its first samples for protecting, covering human beings and providing with the necessities of them. The handicraft, which has later improved and changed according to the environment condi-tions, has gained “traditional” character by becoming an art which reflects the artistic sense of taste and cultural characteristics of the community.
Traditional Turkish Hand Crafts has formed a rich mosaic by bringing together its genuine values with the cultural heritage of the different civilizations which were coming from the thousand years of history of the Anatolia.
Traditional Turkish Hand Crafts can be listed as; carpet making, rug making, sumac, cloth waiving, writing, tile making, ceramic-pottery, handwork making, making embroidery, leather manufactur-ing, music instrument makmanufactur-ing, masonry, coppersmith, basket mak-ing, saddle makmak-ing, minmak-ing, felt makmak-ing, weavmak-ing, wood handicraft, cart making etc. The raw material of the weaving is provided from the wool, mohair, cotton, bristle and silk [1]. Although these variety, there are few studies about hand crafts [2].
Aydin province, situated in the Aegean region in Western Turkey, has a great potential for basket making. There is a large section within the city, where almost all households are working as a small basketry atelier. Five hundred families approximately subsist on baskets mak-ing. Having migrated from Bulgaria to Afyon (Turkey), they finally settled in Aydin 40 years ago. The in heritage of basket making dates back to 4 generation earlier, as they recall. Being subculture and
hav-ing a diverse ethnicity, they have always been kept outside the work-ing facilities of the city. Furthermore, increaswork-ing potential for basket market has been caused them to stay in this sector. On the other hand, the plants used by the villagers are likely to be the same as above mentioned ones. The reason for basket making to be popular in this area is that the area is rich in plants used in basket making.
In this study, different types of baskets, their usage and the sourc-es which are used in basket making from Aydin and its surrounding were given.
Study Area
Aydin province located in the western Turkey is surrounded by İzmir in the north, Denizli in the west, Muğla in the south and Aegan Sea in the west. In the north of the province, Aydin mountains and in the south of it Menteşe Mountain series are situated (fig.1). The most important water resource of it is Büyük Menderes River which starts from Dinar county of Afyon province. It continues through Büyük Menderes plain between these two mountain systems and reaches to Aeagen see. Agriculture is the main income and fig, olive and cotton are being the mostly grown products in this province. Contribution of this product to the countries economy could not be under estimated. Moreover, the other type of fruit and vegetable productions are also significantly important in the province. Addition of olive production, goat breeding is also other sources of income in mountain villages.
Along Büyük Menderes River and irrigation canals, Arundo do-nax (kargı) is the mostly encountered plant groups which is used in basket making. During the summer, kargı is rich in a small streem bed and Salix sp. (söğüt) is rich in humid and enclosed area. These plants can be found abundantly in the research area [3].
Basket Making and Its Usage in Aydın Province, Turkey
Mesut KIRMACI, Zahide ŞAHİN
Adnan Menderes University, Science and Art Faculty, Department of Biology, Botany Section, 09010-Aydin/TÜRKİYE
Abstract
In this study, different types of baskets from Aydin and its surrounding were presented, in terms of their usage and shapes and the sources which are used in basket making. The most important species for the production of wickerwork basket are Kargı (Arundo donax L.), two Söğüt species (Salix spp.), Hayıt (Vitex agnus-castus L.), Zakkum (Nerium oleander L.) and Kamış (Typha sp.). Aydin province has a great potential for basket making and these species may easily find along the Menderes River and irrigation canals. Approximately five hundred families subsist on baskets making in Aydin province.
Keywords: Basket, Basket making, Hand Crafts, Aydın, Turkey
Aydın Civarında (Türkiye) Sepet Yapımı ve Kullanımı
Özet
Bu çalışmada, Aydın ve civarında yapılan sepetler, kullanımları, şekilleri ve sepet yapımında kullanılan bitkilerle birlikte sunulmuştur. Sepet üretiminde kullanılan en önemli bitkiler Kargı (Arundo donax L.), iki Söğüt türü (Salix spp.), Hayıt (Vitex agnus-castus L.), Zakkum (Nerium oleander L.) ve Kamış’tır (Typha sp.). Aydın sepet yapımı için büyük bir potansiyele sahiptir ve bu bitkiler, Menderes Irmağı ve sulama kanalları boyunca kolayca bulunabilir. Aydın ilinde yaklaşık 500 aile geçimini sepet yapımından sağlamaktadır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Sepet, Sepet yapımı, El Sanatları, Aydın, Türkiye
Biyoloji Bilimleri Araştırma Dergisi 2 (1): 55-59, 2009
ISSN:1308-3961, www.nobel.gen.tr
Sorumlu Yazar Geliş Tarihi : 15 Şubat 2008
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MAterIAl And MethotS
Basket usage is very common in Aydin province. It is possible to see these baskets thorough Aydin - Denizli high-way and in the bazaar, establish in the center of the city al-most all days of week. That is why, we started our research from the bazaars and asked the villagers how to reach the baskets and the way they are weaved. After that, we went these places to interview. We asked wickerwork people a series of questions to receive detailed information regard-ing basket makregard-ing and took some photos.
reSultS And dIScuSSIon
Aydin as our research area has very high levels of base water throughout the plain formed by Menderes River. That is why, the main plant materials for baskets making can easily be found throughout the river and water canals. In the development of basket making this plant potentials play a very fundamental role.
The most important species for the production of wick-erwork basket are Kargı (Arundo donax L.) and two Söğüt species (Salix spp.) one of which is of Kastamonu origin. Another important group of plants are Hayıt (Vitex agnus-castus L.), Zakkum (Nerium oleander L.) and Kamış (Typha sp.). These plants commonly use all of the world for basket making [4]. Baskets are produced in different forms due to their functions and marketing requirements. Depending on its usage, it takes different forms and names such as “fig basket” (incir sepeti) (fig. 2a), “celebration basket” (nişan sepeti) (fig. 2b), “basket for bottles” (şişe sepeti) (Fig. 2c), “market basket “(Pazar sepeti) (fig. 2d) etc.
Plants which use for Basket making and the processing steps of each one of these plants are given below.
Kargı (Arundo donax L.):
Kargı is the most frequently used plant during the bas-ket making. As a matter of fact some of the basbas-kets were made solely using this plant. For example almost all the baskets weaved using only kargı in Aslanlı village. This plant is collected between November –September and December-April and utilized whole year. The leaves of the plants were separated to protect the decomposition. The thickness of the plants is very important and in fact they are named according to their thickness such as tütün kargısı, sepet kargısı. The first step during the process is to divide kargıs into four pieces utilizing crescent shaped two hayıt bar which is named ayırac (fig. 3a). If the kargıs were too thick, they can be divided into even eight pieces and the basket weaved this way becomes very strong, delicate and valuable. If the divided pieces were remained too long,
they have to be heated and softened to weave easily. Up to 20 baskets can be weaved a day.
Söğüt (Salix L.spp.):
It is mostly used for ornamental purposes and processed similar to hayit. It is sometimes boiled to make the color brownish. Basket makers especially resided in the down-town bring a special type of söğüt from Kastamonu. This type of söğüt was fist brought by Americans to the Bozlak village which is 20 km off the downtown during the World War II. The population of this village is formed from 30 households and they even established a union. Nowadays only 4 families are occupied with this job and they produce around 30 tons of plant material to be used in basket mak-ing. All of these materials are sent and used in Aydın. It is very important material to make baskets due to the fact that this plant is knotless, easily processed and also gives beau-tiful, white appearance after peeling. Peeling of the bark is done by a tool called sıyırgan (fig. 3b) and becomes ready for knitting. Moreover, these plant materials are soaked and preserve in special tends to keep them fresh (fig. 3c).
Kamış (Typha sp.):
It is collected in autumn and dried. This rarely used plant is soaked to soften before weaving. It is used only knitting in small, no handle baskets like şişe sepeti.
Zakkum (Nerium oleander L.):
This plant is used only as ornamental purposes. Kavak (Populus L.):
This plant is used especially as a support material in knitting big baskets and called Koşma (fig. 3d). It provides ruggedness and steepness to the baskets and easily obtained from carpenters.
Although the plants which use for basket making are same, it is possible to categorize the people who are mak-ing the baskets in two groups. The first group of people is the natives which are living in the same place for a long time. Although, they occupied with this job only to per-form their daily needs there is still small number of people deal with the trading of baskets. Therefore, baskets made by these people have not varied extensively. The second group of people is the immigrants from Bulgaria and India to Aydin province after 1940s. These people have settled as groups especially in the towns of Incirliova, Germen-cik and Nazilli. They provide their daily income mostly from basket making. The immigrant group also includes the people called Yörük who were nomadic but settled later on in the different villages of Aydin. When these people are closely examined, they have came Aydin province and settled later on. Due to the fact that basket making have remained as their sole engagement and increasing demand in the market, baskets variability has risen. Also they have improved different knitting type (fig 4). Basket making M. Kırmacı ve Z. Şahin / Bibad, 2 (1): 55-59, 2009
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Fig 1. Study area
Fig 2. Different basket names; A. “fig baskets” (incir sepeti), B. “celebration baskets” (nişan sepeti) c. “basket for bottles” (şişe sepeti), d. “market baskets “(Pazar sepeti)
Fig 3. Some tools and technique which use of basket making; A. Ayırac, B. Sıyırgan, c. special tends use for preserve of plant materials, d. Koşma
Fig 4. Different knitting type
M. Kırmacı ve Z. Şahin / Bibad, 2 (1): 55-59, 2009 58
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Fig 5. Chinese baskets
also have differed in seasons in outside of Aydin center. Primarily tobacco, bazaar and generally in the middle of the summer olive and fig baskets are made. For example, only fig and olive baskets in different shapes and size have made in Aslanlı village. However, Aydin center are quite developed in basket making and approximately 150-200 sorts of baskets are made when compared to other towns. These baskets are sent to Ankara, İstanbul and different re-sort centers.
The number of people is diminishing especially in vil-lages. There are number of reasons effecting basket mak-ing but increasmak-ing usage of plastic material and reducmak-ing the prices of the baskets are the most important negative in-fluences. That is why people generally choose not to work on this profession. However, the most important compo-nent affecting the basket makers is the imported Chinese baskets (fig. 5). These baskets are very attractive and keep the same price range as domestically produced baskets and have already decorated the same shelves.
Depending upon the size of the baskets, each person can make 2, 3, 4, 5 or 20 baskets a day. However, the vil-lagers make only small number of baskets a day, depending upon on the demand, as the varieties of their baskets are different and limited.
There is still an obvious need to conduct further field work in the Turkey in order to contribute to the knowledge of the hand crafts.
AcKnoWledGeMentS
We are very grateful to Serhat MANAV for his kind help during field studies and many thanks to Assoc.Prof.Dr. Adnan ERDAĞ for drawing the map.
reFerenceS
[1] http://www.discoverturkey.com/english/kultursanat/elsan-at.html
[2] ERTUĞ, F. (1999). Plants Used in Domestic Handicrafts in Central Turkey. Ot Sist. Bot. Dergisi, 6: 57-68.
[3] SEÇMEN, Ö. & LEBLEBİCİ, E. (1997). Türkiye Sulak Alan Bitkileri ve Bitki Örtüsü. Ege Üniversitesi Fen Fakül-tesi Yayınları, No: 58, Izmir.
[4] UGENT, D. (2000). The Master Basket Weavers of the To-luca Market Region (Mexiko) Economic Botany, 54: 256-266.
