AVRIL 1961
T T -S io x
l !
27
Turkish Bath
«A person who never had the opportunity of «ashing in a Turkish bath, cannot suppose himself,
,n the real sense of the word, to have been completely le a n e d up.»
I h ave heard that he w ords quoted ab o ve belong .. Ludendorff, the w ell-kn o w n G erm an C om m ander. I ;"n sure that an y person w ho has never observed or exprienced the procedure fo llo w e d in cleanin g o p e ration, in a Turkish bath w o u ld , e a s ily join the G e n e ra l
- his conviction.
Ham am re a lly w a s drived from the Romans but c jr ancestors im proved it, to such an extent that washing becam e a p lea su re , and in the old d ays the whole fa m ily might spend the d a y there, brides before -o ria g e , and mother a fte r child birth.
Until recent ye a rs in our big cities, such as Ista n bul, Izm ir, B ursa, p a la c e s, m ansions and boarding schools had their own p rivate ham am s. Some o f them still exist, heated by steam .
Ham am s designated fo r public use a re called — Ç arşı ham am ı — M arket bath — and some of •-em have a great architectu ral v a lu e .
The fu rn ace o f the ham am consisting o f a fire : oce and a cau ld ro n , heats the w a te r and the a ir, whence if passes to the other part o f the bu ild in g , the washrooms, and a ll are kept w arm .
The w ashin g section is divided into three parts, <rst tne private section or h alve t, second the orta or "am section, and third the central pool or n avel stone, coiled th eG ö b ek ta şı, w hich is a broad platform with
A y a s o f y a h a m a m la rı
k e s b a in s d 'A y a s o fy a , (O e u v r e du G ra n d S in a n )
a circle in the m iddle and raised som ew hat from the flo o r, on this the bathers sit or lie dow n.
W hen the bather gets in this section, he can w ash himselb or have it done by a type o f atte n d a n t called a te lla k , he is then rubbed with a carse glove called a kse and m assag ed . But befo re that o p era tio n , quite tiresom e, the bather should have perspired from head to food, as the wet skin leaves the dirt very e a s ily .
He then returns to the w aitin g room w here he is dried with a bath tow el and rests. Refreshm ent w ill be served if desired. It is then but a question of dressing and leaving the bath, w ithout fo rg etting the tips of the attend ants.
In big cities women and men have their own ha- mam exclusive to their use, w h ile , in sm all ones the same hamams are used by both sexes but in the d if ferent hours o f the d a y , o f course. This custom, still strictly observed, has tw o exceptions like a ll the rules o f English gram m ar. The first is th at, some Sultans uesd to have their bath together w ith their distinguished cuncubines. And in that practice Sultan Ibrahim , a l though ca lle d mad by his p eop le, fo llo w e d the w isest and hardiest cosy b ytakin g his bath am ong hundreds representatives o f g entler sex.
★
The second exception w as granted to the boys under their tw e lve s, w ho might acco m pan y their mother in going to ham am . But this practice often caused m isunderstandings betw een wom en and boys, as the age of the latter w as determ ined in an uncer tain w a y , according the a p p e a re n ce . Therefo re w hen this gave an estim ation over the sa fe ty limit a dispute could start betw een women and the boy, g e n e ra lly with the fo llo w in g stan d ard ise d w ords:
B i r T ü r k h a m a m ın ın k e s it i (M a h m u t l ’u*a H a m a m ı) C o u p e d'un H a m a m T u r c ( B a in s de M a h m u t P a ş a
28
TOURING ET AUTOMOBI
Ladies: O h , my G o o d n e ss, if w ould be v e ry nice of you to ta ke your fa th e r also !
Boy: Don't w o rry about him. he w ill be very soon here with some delig ht for you.
★
The Turkish man used to go to ham am , g e n e ra lly for w ashin g purposes w h ile the Turkish w om an looked a t it as a p lace o f pass-tim e and p leasure in the olden d a ys, h ow ever, when the veiling w as a strictly o b served custom, and the young men could not see the girls in the a g e o f m arria g e , the mothers o f the fo r mer used ham am as an x - r a y la b o ra to ry , to e xam in e the w ho le body o f their can d id a te d a u g h te r-in -la w .
In Turkey therm al springs w ere in sta lle d w here the n atu ra l springs e xiste d . The therm al springs w hich have been runned since the Romans and B yza n tin e d a y s , and w h e re m any h istorical events took p la c e , a re the best e xa m p le s in their kin ds. It is know n a ll o ver the w o rld th at Q ueen Theo do ra cam e to Bursa with a suite o f 4 0 .0 0 0 persons an d spent p le a sa n t d a y s , in the p a la c e s .
In T u rk ey, a ll p laces do n ated w hich a re fam ous fo r their curative as ham am and c la ssifie d into tw o categ o ries re la te d w ith the cu rative e ffe ct o f its w a ters; these a re ferrugionous and sulphureous springs. Am ong the numerous ham am s w hich a re fam ous fo r their cu rative w a te rs, w e should a t lea st mention those o f Bursa, Y a lo v a (n e a r Ista n b u l) N iğ d e ( a pro- vnice in ce n tral A n a to lia ) K s a n k a le (n e a r Erzurum ) and H a ym a n a (n e a r A n k a r a ) .
Acco rd ing to E v liy a Ç e le b i, the fam ous Turkish tra v e lle r, in 1 6 4 0 , 4 3 8 5 p rivate an d 168 pu blic h a mams w ere existing in Ista n b u l. A c tu a lly 140 public ham am s still survive but, u n fo rtu n ate ly, no trace o f lo ve ly m ansion ham am s is le ft. Ham am occupies such an im portant p lace in Turkish d a ily life th at several expression drived from its vario u s fe a tu re s:
«Hamam gibi sıcak» — (it is hot like h a m a m ). «K ad ınlar hamamına benziyor» — (it is like a
wom en b a th ) th at is, v e ry noisy.
«iki çıplak bir ham am a» — (T w o nudes in a b a t h )
this expression is used about a m arriag e w hose p a rt ners a re both v e ry poor.
«Hamam da deli var» — There is a mad man in the
bath — v e ry unexpected attitud e on b e h a lf oc a ce r tain p e rso n .)
Nizamettin Ö ZBEK
Kişisel Arşivlerde İstanbul Belleği Taha Toros Arşivi
