This weekend, I got to experience a wonderful Turkish tradition. Hassan, one of the Turkish archeological workers, invited our whole archeology group to his party in which all his family and friends celebrate him partaking in the military. It is required by law that every man should enter into the military at a point in his life. As our group exited the bus, right away, we received so many looks from the heavily clothed woman with many beautiful fabrics covering their heads, and men. We pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb with our difference in skin color, eye and hair color, and clothing. They looked at us with questionable looks but we’re very sincere. Right away we sat down at the dinner table, received our food, and walked over to this open area just outside the house with music. Whether it was on purpose or not, I found it funny how all of Hassan’s Turkish guests were clumped up on both sides of the music speakers and the Americans (including our fellow Turkish archeology workers) sat isolated on the far side of the speakers. As everyone is ready for the festivities, awaiting Hassan, I took note of the different music and dancing from the little kids, flopping their feet around in front of their mothers. One of the kids- Mr. Sassy- would walk across the row of Americans with protective eyes and a “this is my turf” expression. Could have been my imagination since I felt like I was on the spot most of the time, with my bright mint colored knee length dress. But through all this slight awkwardness, I found the experience to be worth while once we started dancing. Even with the Turkish archeology students trying to teach us their moves, we still flopped our arms around and I’m almost positive that Hassan’s guests thought we were weird, loud Americans. Easily, I pushed this thought away and replaced it with silly, fun dancing with all my fellow Oles. I would catch glimpses among us of ridiculous moves (they shall not be named) and knew it’ll all be ok looking ridiculous.
Lastly, we got a an extra special surprise. After dancing, Hassan came out with a woman and followed with what it seemed like a proposal. Hassan’s wife to be started weeping and kissing her loved ones. Then, men started a line towards Hassan, which looked like they were paying their respects to their engagement with a kiss and bump on both sides of his head. I thought it was such a beautiful event to witness.
Experiencing this celebration as well as hanging out with the Turkish students have given me an appreciation to this part of their world. Even though we were dumped into the dig house with the students, right away we’ve all started to form bonds, from playing night soccer, to having miAni dances in the cramped up bus and swimming at the cove. Turkey has been great even off site!
