TRADITIONAL FOLK DANCE AND COSTUME IN TURKEY

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TRADITIONAL FOLK DANCE AND COSTUME IN TURKEY

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TRADITIONAL COSTUMES IN TURKEY
Clothing was first introduced to protect man from
the elements. It has come by its present forms as
a result of the influence of social and moral
values. With the passing time, a wide variety in
forms of clothing emerged. These differences were
the result of social and economic structure,
geography, the materials available and climate.
In the very earliest times, everyone in a
particular tribe would wear clothes that defined
his or her social status. More than an
obligation, this was an understanding carried on
by tradition. Clothing and eben hair styles
reflected this same conception. Traditional
clothes and finery provide considerable
information about the workings of a society.
Clothes indicate whether societies are settled or
nomadic, and are a source of information abourt
historical events and ethnological origins. For
example, in Yöruk or Turkoman villages, one can
tell whether a woman is engaged, married or a
widow from the way in which she does her hair.
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TRADITIONAL COSTUMES IN TURKEY
Daily, work and special day clothes are
different. Hair styles during a wedding and after
the bridal chamber differ. In markets, it is easy
to identify which village people live in just
from their clothes. Today in Anatolia, there
are differences even between the clothing worn in
different neighborhoods of the same village. It
is therefore inadvisable for the art historian,
sociologist, folk dance arranger or designer to
speak in terms of "Traditional Turkish costume.
Research led by sociologists from the Folk
Culture Research and Development General
Directorate of the Ministry of Culture has
revealed that Anatolia possesses a wide range of
clothing.
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TRADITIONAL COSTUMES IN TURKEY
Men who leave their villages to do their
military service or to take up employment
inevitably adapt to city culture. Field research
therefore faces problems when it comes to
defining mens clothing. But in rural areas,
women generally have little contact with the
outside world. They tend to dress in conformity
with the lifestyle and traditions of the
community of which they are a part. Dress and
decoration tends to follow that of preceding
generations. Childrens clothes also differ
according to sex and age. The concept of the evil
eye is widespread, and one can observe many
amulets to ward it off in peoples clothes and
hair. In conservative communities, each
generation follows the clothing styles and
customs of earlier generations, which is how
traditional clothing and styles have come down to
the present day. Yet it is nevertheless
impossible to say that traditional clothing and
finery are totally unchanging. The materials
employed certainly do change, and the efforts put
into clothes are no longer as painstaking as
before. Contemporary conditions create different
styles, and interaction between different
fashions is quite intense.
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TRADITIONAL COSTUMES IN TURKEY
In rural areas, women spend most of their time
with working. As a result, their daily, work and
special day clothes are different. Special
costumes and hair dressings are only to be seen
at wedding ceremonies. Womens hair styles differ
in accordance with their social status, and
whether they are married or engaged, or not. Hair
style is an important feature of womens lives.
Clothes and finery are a concept of physical
culture and are part of the way that popular
culture changes, and are also affected by that
same process of change.
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JEWELLERY AND ORNAMENTS
Embellishment, or the use of jewellery and
ornaments, appeared in very early times, based
either on a belief in or need for decoration, and
has today become a living tradition. Jewellery
was made by small tribes with the natural
materials available where they lived, in
accordance with their beliefs and customs. It
became a part of their tradition and was endowed
with symbolic meanings. Jewellery made of stone,
metal, wood, bone, fabric, glass or leftover
materials are examples of this cultural heritage.
The tradition of using jewellery and ornaments
to complement traditional clothing still exists
in traditional societies. The jewellery and
ornaments used at wedding ceremonies in Anatolia
differ according to the importance of the couple
about to be married. For example, on the "henna
night" (a party for a bride-to-be during which
she and the other guests henna their hands and
fingers, generally held one day before the
wedding ceremony itself) the bride wears no
ornaments, her clothes and jewellery being worn
by another girl. It is considered inappropriate
for a young girl to adorn herself before
marriage, although she will do so before leaving
her father's house, either to give a favorable
impression or for protection from the evil eye.
Jewellry and ornaments are also worn by children
and adult males. Although some traditions are
about to disappear, there is a growing interest
in using jewellry in accordance with authentic
fashion.
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TURKISH FOLK DANCE
Turkish dance refers to the folk dances of
Turkey. On the border between Europe and the
Middle East, facing three seas, straddling
important trade routes, Turkey has an ancient and
complicated culture, reflected in the variety of
its dances. However its dance traditions are
dominated by the influence of the Ottoman Empire.
The dominant dance forms are types of line dance.
Turkey is divided into these cultural regions,
which have distinctive dance styles Trakya
(European Turkey), Marmara (on the coast of the
Sea of Marmara, Karadeniz (North-central, on the
coast of the Black Sea), Central Anatolia,
Eastern Anatolia, and Southeastern Anatolia.The
costumes worn by the dancers are often very
colorful is representing happiness, or either
very dull when doing a slow, depressing dance.
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TURKISH FOLK DANCE
Places, Dancers, Preparations and Reasons for the
Performance of Folk Dances Folk dances are
performed at weddings, engagement ceremonies,
when sending young men off to perform their
military service, at national and religious
festivals, after victories, going to and coming
back from from the high plateaus and at meetings
such as ferfene, yaren talks, barana or sira
gezmesi. Dances are generally performed in all
suitable open areas, but may also be performed in
close areas as well. People who enjoy
reputations as good folk dancers are especially
invited to wedding ceremonies. These are
respectable people who have knowledge of that
regions music and folk dances. Folk dances owe
their rich variety of moves to such people, who
happily improvise while performing in order to
show off their skills. In this way, dances are
successfully passed on to people who may or may
not be capable of dancing themselves, especially
the young ones.
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TURKISH FOLK DANCE
Folk Dance Traditions, Beliefs, Legends and
Stories Some dances reflect natural events or
daily life, and others treat social events and
matters of the heart. For example, the Kimil
dance from Urfa province portrays a kind of pest
that harms the crops and the way that villagers
attempt to deal with it. Other dances refer to
other stories.
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TURKISH FOLK DANCE
Costumes, Instruments and Names of Folk Dances
People wear daily or special costumes in line
with the reasons behind the particular dance.
In Turkey folk dance is invariably accompanied
by musical instruments. In some regions, women
perform also folk dances to the accompaniment of
folk songs. Folk dances are named after their
creators, geographic regions, or the natural
events or stories they relate.
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TURKISH FOLK DANCE
Folk Dances By Subject Matter Folk dances may
be divided into those that describe the
relationship between man and nature,those that
dealing with rain, mist and rivers, describing
plants, defining numbers, describing the
relationship between man and animals and taking
social events such as fighting war, love and
courtship as their subject matter. Then there are
those that reflect the ceremonies performed when
a young man is about to go to do his military
service. There are dances about agriculture, the
harvest and damaged crops. Other dances describe
different occupations, such as shepherds. Men can
perform dances that mirror the everyday lives of
women. Then there are dances that describe daily
tasks such as baking bread and milking, and
others that describe a production procedure such
as spinning yarn.
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TURKISH FOLK DANCE
Different types of group dances in different
regions There are many different types of folk
dances performed in various ways in Turkey, and
these reflect the cultural structure of each
region. The bar in Erzurum province, the halay in
the East and Southeast, the hora in Trakya, the
horon in the Black Sea and spoon dances in and
around Konya are the best known examples of
these.
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MELIS ÖVEREL 6-B CLASS 575
MELIS ÖVEREL 6/B CLASS 575