the Black Sea

The Turks, the genteel nation whose name has been on the pages of the history for more than three thousand years….and Turkey(also called Anatolia), the precious land that Turks have ruled for about a thousand year.
Since, the Turks, we, and Turkey, our home, have a very long and old history, our culture is also extensive and noble. Settling in the middle of Asia and Europe, Turkey gathers every kind of cultures. While traveling from north to south or west to east, you can clearly recognize the differences… differences of life styles, livelihoods, foods, clothes and even sometimes the materials used for buildings. For example, in the Blacksea side, houses are wooden, but when you go to the East, you’ll see stone and clay ones. However, none of these ways are completely diverse from the general qualifications of the Turks. Various ways and styles but all reaching same points.
All the time of our history, we have been known for our hospitality and friendliness. We have been also known as good cooks. With delicious tastes addressing to every gusto, Turkish cuisine is already in a high position on the list of world’s cuisines. Almost every city has got a special meal or original ways of cooking. As I said, Turkey’s like a puzzle, you can draw lines between cities and their cultures, but they’re nothing alone, since they’re needed for completing the whole.
Like the styles of foods showing differences depending on place by place, our taste of music is also changeable. We have lots of kind of traditional music. As Turkey has seven regions, the Marmara, the Blacksea, the Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Middle Anatolia, the East Anatolia and the South-East Anatolia, we can count seven main kinds of music.
Starting with the Blacksea, we hear the sound of ‘tulum’ ( a special instrument of the Blacksea) and ‘kemençe’ (another special one, also called kemancha in English). On the whole, the Blacksea music is fast-rhythmed, that’s why people start to dance the ‘horon’ ( a folk dance of the Blacksea coastal region) While dancing, they wear some special funny costumes. For men, black trousers, a black waistcoat, black high-topped boots, a white shirt and a black cap. For women, colorful costumes with ‘peştemal’s. (cloth wrapped about the waist, usually colored in claret red, white and navy blue) Also they use some gold coins as a necklace. The lyrics of the region music are generally about love between two people, a lover suffering from his darling’s reluctance torturing him, or another one extolling his darling, a girl complaining about her casanova boy. And so on… Nonetheless, sometimes words don’t suffice for the human feelings, then only the rhythms of ‘tulum’ and ‘kemençe’ echoes among the high and steep mountains of the Blacksea. This time is when you feel the murky and melancholy air of it....
The people in the Blacksea part, whose livelihoods are, ninety per cent, from the sea, cook traditional meals with sea-products, specially with anchovy(tiny fishes, called ‘hamsi’ in Turkish). Bread, pilaf (rice cooked), or deserts with anchovy….They also use genuine Blacksea butter and cheese for meals.

As for something about history, like aforementioned qualifications of Turkey own, the Blacksea’s history is also old, too, as well as any other regions. You can easily see the original and unspoiled culture, as people here are still aware of its value. They still wear traditionally, talk traditionally, cook traditionally, and live traditionally. If you go to the Blacksea side, you’ll be gracefully welcomed, since they were told by their fathers that ‘a guest is a gift from God’. And again as a traditional common thing, but this time it’s out of date, the women generally don’t work, they don’t have any jobs like a doctor, teacher, nurse..or something… Because the most majority of them are not educated at university. Today it looks very silly. So by day by, they are changing their minds and fathers let their girls go to university now. Since we need to keep in step with time, even we face to change our old customs. However, that doesn’t mean that women sit in the house all the day, on the contrary, the Blacksea women are known as hardworking and proficient. They work in the yields of tea, corn or collard…
And …lastly… the traditional Blacksea festivals. They’re celebrated in summer on mountain pastures. Thousands of people from every part of Turkey come to join these festivals. Most of people wear ‘horon’ costumes, as they dance it. It’s really funny to see thousands dancing the ‘horon’ in a very very long line on the green endless land of mountain pastures. The sound of ‘kemençe’ and ‘tulum’ is heard only, and you let yourself go with the rhythm, starting to take steps regularly and shake your shoulders. The festivals generally last for a month.
All these lines were some basic information about the culture of the Blacksea to give you an impression. Needless to say, you should go see and breathe the air there. Why Blacksea? Because it’s my village, my region. But I would also be pleased, as well, to tell you about any other valuable region of my country another time, if you will…. :)