This year (1999) Turkey is celebrating the 700th anniversary of the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, which survived for a remarkable six centuries, and for five of those centuries was the largest empire in the world. It was founded by a minor Turkish chieftain, Osman Bey, leader of the Kayı clan which had migrated into Anatolia from Central Asia. In 1299 the clan made its home in the small western town of Söğüt, and gradually this small principality grew to dominate first Anatolia, then much of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Social life under the Ottomans combined the traditions of Central Asia and those of Islam, and was family centred with a strong sense of privacy. Public festivities in celebration of various events such were an excuse for people to drop their customary reserve and let out their energies, much like the carnivals of Christian countries. During these festivities the usual strict regulations were suspended and women were able to wander freely in the streets.

Festivities to mark religious events were held on the two bayram feasts, one marking the end of Ramazan and the other the Sacrificial Bayram, the mevlid kandili marking the birth of the Prophet, and the setting out of the great Sürre procession which carried gifts from the Ottoman sultan to Mecca. Others were occasions such as the distribution of money to the soldiers after the accession of a new sultan to the throne, royal births, weddings of royal princesses, circumcision of the royal princes, the day that the princes started school, the procession of the new sultan’s mother to the palace and so on. In some cases festivities were organised in honour of foreign ambassadors to put on a display of the empire’s splendour.

Known as donanma, these festivities often lasted for several days or even weeks in the capital city Istanbul, and featured displays on water, such as large illuminated models floating down the Golden Horn or the Bosphorus, reenactments of assaults on castles and firework displays. The entire city would be lit up with lamps, torches, and candles at night.

The most magnificent of all festivities were circumcision feasts for the royal princes. Although wedding festivities were held for the daughters of the sultans, the sultan and other male members of the royal dynasty did not normally marry their consorts. Of all the circumcision festivities over the centuries the most splendid of all was held in 1582 for Şehzade Mehmed (later Mehmed III) son of Murad III and lasted 55 days and nights.

Hundreds of other boys were circumcised at the same time as the princes, as at the festivities for Sultan Mehmed IV’s sons Mustafa and Bayezıt held in Edirne in 1675. These circumcision festivities lasted fifteen days, and immediately afterwards were followed by the wedding festivities for five royal princesses. These events were described in various manuscripts illustrated by celebrated painters like Nakkaş Osman and Levnî.

When the princes were of an age to be circumcised the chief black eunuch would inform the sultan, who would go to the Harem to discuss the details of the festivities and how long they would last with his principal wife, the Haseki Sultan. The Harem eunuchs would also be consulted. The Harem would be decorated, and female musicians play the kanun, an instrument resembling a zither. The following day the Haseki Sultan would distribute gifts to the şehzades and women of the harem, and that night a Chinese style lantern procession would take place in the Harem gardens. Troupes of girls dressed in colourful costumes would dance, palace dwarfs would do comic turns and jugglers and conjurers would perform for the sultan and his family. There followed the public festivities to which eminent foreigners in the city were invited as the sultan’s guests.

When held in Istanbul, the festivities centred around Topkapı Palace, events taking place in the Hippodrome, İncili Köşk, Yalı Köşk and Alay Köşk, but they also took place on open spaces on the shore of the Golden Horn such as Aynalıkavak and Kağıthane, or on Dolmabahçe meadow on the Bosphorus. Here great pavillion tents would be erected for palace officials and eminent guests, with latticed sections for the women to see out of without being observed. Roundabouts, swingboats, bigwheels and seesaws were set up for the children and young people to ride on, and entertainers such as puppeteers with giant puppets and tightrope walkers would prepare their shows.

The scale of organisation required for these events was phenomenal. All the city shops put up decorations and remained open day and night, and restrictions on drinking wine and other alcoholic drinks were lifted for the occasion. So that public order was kept the city was policed by guards known as kolcu, to prevent thieving, fighting and other disruption to the peace.

Feasting was an important part of the festivities, and meals cooked in great outdoor kitchens were served regularly. Horns and drums announced the beginning of meals and the hungry public were organised in queues by officials known as tulumcu. Meals consisted of rice pilaf, roast mutton, and muhallebi, a ground rice pudding with almonds. Fruit drinks known as sherbet were distributed.The sultan and his guests ate and watched the festivities from pavillions if in the city or tents when in the countryside. There were also separate festivities for the janissaries, naval seamen, judges, mollahs and other groups, and pupils from Muslim, Greek, Armenian and Catholic schools were invited.

Each morning the festivities began with the arrival of the sultan, who would spend the time until noon receiving high ranking state officials. After the noon meal there would be cirit (jereed) matches played between teams on horseback throwing short javelins, and guild processions. Each guild of tradesmen prepared a float on which artisans sometimes actually produced items of their particular trade as it moved along or displayed examples. Others marched along holding the articles they made and tall tree-like decorations known as nahil hung with sugar decorations in the form of fruits and flowers. The tradesmen included the farmers, millers, bakers, butchers, kebab cooks, grocers, confectioners, greengrocers, chandlers, barbers, architects, shoemakers, reed pen makers, bow and arrow makers, swordsmiths, blacksmiths, furriers, mirror makers, felt makers, silk makers, tailors, quilt makers, goldsmiths, harness makers and so on. These guild processions sometimes lasted for days. Before and after the procession came dancers, acrobats, jugglers, and performers with fire and hoops entertained the crowds.

The most spectacular entertainments were at night, when illuminated tableaux in the form of carriages, dragons or crocodiles were drawn along on the waters of the Golden Horn, while tightrope walkers danced and acrobats leapt. On either side of the Bosphorus the houses would be lit up and rockets fired from the shore to light up the sky. Illuminated models of naval ships and castles would be pulled along in front of the houses and the dancers inside entertain the watchers on shore. The reflections of the lights in the water were a marvellous sight. Another form of illumination was in the form of words created by many lamps arranged on strings between poles, and sometimes these were made to move on a pully system.Guests, statesmen and the public would present gifts to the sultan whose value added up to far more than even the prodigious sums spent on the celebrations (some of these gifts can be seen today at Topkapı Palace). Finally the participants would be presented with ceremonial kaftans known as hilat, the tents would be dismantled, and the sultan and his sons return to the palace.

* By Şegül Aydıngün *Miniatures Sabine Buchmann Yamanlar
* Şengül Aydıngün is an archaeologist and art historian.