Female and Male

Photograph of relatives in front of a mudbrick house on the occasion of the day of circumcision (sünnet) of three boys, on the 7.9.1952. It was customary for circumcision to take place before boys went to school, about the age of six. In case there were more boys in the family, with a difference of a few years in age, the sünnet took place at the same time for all, for two or more brothers or relatives, taking into consideration that the oldest should not have passed his 8th year. Such seems to have been the case with the boys in the photograph. The boys are wearing white shirts and trousers, two of them long, the third short. Their appearance is modern, as also applies to all the other people on the photograph. The boys who had the sünnet were distinguished by a band made of shining material, worn diagonally across the chest, and the special headdress. On the bands the word maşallah, which means God´s blessing, is usually written. The headdress in those years was a fez covered with gold coins. Metallic silver tinsels (Greek téllia, Turk. tel) are shown hanging from both sides of this special headdress (başlık).

Wedding photograph taken in the studio of Fevzi Akarsu in 1951. The bride wears a white modern long wedding dress with a transparent veil falling down to the floor. The veil is attached to the impressive crown (gelin başlığı) on her head, which is made of diamonds and imitations of flowers. It was customary to borrow diamonds from relatives and friends and to return them after the wedding. On both sides of the crown hang gold or silver tinsels (similar to those used for Christmas and New Year decoration). The bride also wears earrings, a medallion, a bracelet and rings on both hands, one of them the wedding ring. She is holding a bunch of artificial flowers.

The groom wears a European suit with double-breasted jacket, a handkerchief in the breast pocket and a tie (Turk. kravat). He wears a wedding ring, on his left hand, instead of the right, in order to show it on the photograph. The bride is called Emine and the groom Ömer.

Photograph taken in the studio of Fevzi Akarsu about 1950. The bride wears a modern-style white, long wedding dress and an impressive high crown (gelin başlığı) made exclusively of diamonds. The diamonds were borrowed from relatives and friends especially to be used for the wedding. These crowns were prepared by women specialists, called gelin onarıcı. The hair forms a wavy line on the forehead and barely covers the ears. A thin, transparent veil, attached to the lower part of the crown, falls down to form a train, spreading on the floor. The bride also wears diamond earrings, rings on both hands and a necklace of two rows of pearls. Her eyes are kohl-outlined and her lips dark red.

The groom appears in a modern two-piece western-style dark suit, long trousers and a jacket crossed over the chest and with two rows of three buttons; the jacket is worn over a white shirt and a striped tie, and has a white handkerchief in the chest pocket. His shoes seem to be black and white.

A Turkish Cypriot rural family photographed in front of the entrance of their house, which is a traditional wooden door with iron nails and carved central post. Five persons are posing, representing three generations. Only the man of the family, the father, is sitting on a chair holding a ‘double-barreled’ gun (çakmaklı; you pull the cock back to tension it and then you pull the trigger to fire), and with a black hunting dog by his side. He is wearing a white shirt, possibly also a cardigan, a jacket made of striped English cloth, light-coloured trousers and traditional boots (çangar çizmesi).The grandmother is dressed with a traditional two-piece çarşaf made of light-coloured woven cloth with checkered patterns; one piece covers the head and falls behind the shoulders, while the other part is wrapped around the lower part of the body. Underneath she wears pantaloons, part of which is visible behind the dog. Her shirt seems also woven, with striped lines, and has a vertical centre front opening. Earrings are hanging from her ears. This is a typical Turkish Cypriot dress. The younger woman, the mother, on the right of the photograph, wears a two-piece black (kara) çarşaf. The veil is tied around the head with its string, as a typical arabic/islamic headdress. The second piece of the çarşaf is fastened at the waist with elastic and covers the lower part of the body. Under the çarşaf she wears a long dress made of imported stamped cloth with flower patterns on a dark background. The dress has long sleeves and a broad collar decorated with a flower on the breast. Around her neck is a necklace composed of a row of beads. The young girl wears a short-sleeved dress of imported printed cloth with a collar and buttons on the upper part, white stockings and black bar shoes. The boy wears a two-piece suit made of English fabric, a combination of short pants and jacket with two buttons and a pocket on either side. Underneath he wears a white shirt; also white stockings turned over his light-coloured leather boots. Place and date are unknown, but from the appearance of the persons we can date the photograph about 1950.

Group photograph taken in the fields, probably in the 1950s. A man dressed in European costume is seated on a mule, and on a second mule, next to him, a village girl in a white dress tied at the waist, and a headscarf (yemeni) bordered with lace. She wears front lace shoes, without stockings. Two men stand, one on either side of the mules; they wear the traditional everyday Turkish Cypriot dress, consisting of white woven shirts and white breeches (dizlik). Around their waists they have tarabulus kuşak, and their heads are covered with a cloth (kulak çapıdı) wrapped in a different way in each case. The one on the right of the photograph holds a stick and is wearing leather top boots tied under the knees; the other wears black stockings and flat shoes.

Photograph of Hacı Mustafa Hacı Osman (1874-1958) and his wife Havva Hacı Yusuf (1878-1968). They are the grandfather and grandmother of Aziz Damdelen from his mother’s side. Most probably, the photograph was taken in the early 1950s. The couple stands in front of a wall, side by side.

Hacı Mustafa wears a Hicaz fez with a hodja type turban (hoca sarığı); Hicaz is the place where Prophet Mohammed’s tomb is found, a holy place for the Muslims, like Jerusalem, the place of the Holy Tomb, for the Christians. The addition of Hacı to their name indicates that both Mustafa and his wife had visited the holy place, wherefrom they must have brought the fez, therefore called Hicaz fez. This headdress covers most of Mustafa’s white hair; he has also a long beard and moustache. Over a white shirt, also of Hicaz provenance, he wears a western-style jacket, black with white stripes, with collar, two buttons and two pockets, one on either side; his white, hand-knitted cotton stockings are combined with thick-soled tab front shoes with a buckle.

Havva Hacı Yusuf wears a white headscarf bordered with needle lace, and a dress made of cotton fabric with flower patterns; the dress is tied with a girdle at the waist and has three-quarter length sleeves. Her long stockings, which seem to be rather wrinkled, have striped patterns, and the heelless tab front shoes are made of soft leather (postal potin). A gold necklace completes the attire.

Source: Hüseyin Hacı Mustafa.

Village: Kanli, Nicosia District.

Photograph of an agricultural scene, taken in 1950.The persons working in the field are Kemal Çiftçioğlu (born in 1923) and his wife. In the background there are hills with sparse vegetation, and in the foreground a double-wheeled iron plough with a single ploughshare, pulled by a pair of oxen under a wooden yoke. The farmer and his wife are planting cotton seeds using a funnel (Turk. huni, GC fonín and TCy foni) fixed vertically into the plough; the seeds are thrown into the funnel and, as the wheels of the plough rotate, the seeds are distributed in the furrows.

The farmer is wearing a white cotton shirt, woven on the loom with thread spun with a wooden spindle and distaff (kirmen and öreke), and grey trousers fastened with a belt at the waist. Although he is working in the sun, his head is uncovered. In his right hand he holds a long stick to guide the oxen.

His wife is standing close to the plough and holds a copper bucket (bakraç) containing the seeds with which she feeds the funnel. Her head is covered with a scarf of white patterned fabric; the ends of the kerchief are tied under the chin. She wears a long dress made of cotton flannel cloth (bazen, pazen), gathered at the waist.

Source: Hüseyin Çiftçioğlu (he donated the photograph to Aziz Damdelen).

Village: Platanissos, Karpasia, Famagusta District.

Photograph of a couple, Revan Kaçar (1918-1983) and Zalihe Kaçar (1911-1993). The photograph was taken in the interior of a house; two steps and a door are seen at the background. There is no date, but from the age of the persons – the wife is seven years older – we can presume that the photograph was taken in the late 1940s.

Revan’s hair is cut very short; he also has a moustache. He wears a loom-woven white linen shirt with collar and cuffs, black knee-breeches (kara dizlik) and a red sash around his waist (kırmızı kuşak/guşak). The attire is complemented with hand-knitted, black stockings, made with the elastic knitting design (lastik örneği çorap), and flat tab front shoes (dilli potin).

The wife, Zalihe Kaçar, stands on the left side of her husband, so close that their hands touch. Her long black hair falls in loose tresses over the shoulders on the chest, and is partly covered with a white kerchief decorated with hand-printed or painted patterns (yazma çember), the ends of which are tied under the chin. She wears a long dress made of flower-patterned fabric, and machine-sewn. Over the dress, which has a low V-neck, she wears a ready-made woollen jacket (hırka). Under the dress she wears long white pants (Karpaz donu), woven on the loom with Indian yarns; their lower part, from below the knees to the ankles, is exposed, and the edges are decorated with crochet lace jasmine patterns. The stockings are hand-knitted and colourful, the shoes black with buttons at the sides.

Source: Rukiye Kaçar.

Village: Galinoporni (Kaleburnu), Karpasia, Famagusta District.

Photograph of an agricultural scene, taken by Nidai Arabacıali in August of 1948 in Kioneli (Gönyeli). It shows the separation of the grain from the straw by a machine. In the foreground we see the sheaves of the cut wheat spread on the field; at the back is a traditional village cart, from where the sheaves are thrown into the separation machine. The machine is connected with a thick band to a tractor (Turk. patos, TCy patoz; ), which drives it. A man in the foreground (Cevdet Demirel) is holding a long-handled pitchfork (dirgen/digren; Greek dikráni) with which he throws the sheaves in the cart, on which stands another man who feeds the machine; a third person on the ground is controlling the machine. Another three people stand behind the cart; the man to the right holds a two-handled basket, while the man next to him pushes a shovel into a similar basket: presumably they are collecting the grain. All the people involved are men and wear light-coloured clothes, also headscarves and hats, to protect themselves from the summer heat. The man on the right side of the photograph holds his hat under his arm. Their clothing comprises white shirts and trousers; the person holding the pitchfork, also wears a white overcoat and motorcycle glasses. The man feeding the machine is Hasan Damdelen. The names of the other four persons are: Vardiyan Ali, Mehmet Sumburti, Haceli Zehrası’nın oğlu, Hayati.

Source of information: Hasan Dayı.

Source of the photograph: Aşkın Dervişoğluları.

Village: Kioneli (Gönyeli), Nicosia District.

Photograph of a winnowing scene, outside the village of Kioneli (Gönyeli). The photograph was taken in 1948 by Nidai Arabacıali, Kioneli (Gönyeli). In the middle distance there are trees and the village houses, and also a threshing scene, with the Keryneia mountain range in the background. Threshing, the separating of the grain from the straw, took place on the threshing floor, where the sheaves of the cut wheat were taken. Here we see two animals dragging a threshing board (Turk. düven, TCy düğen, Greek doukáni = threshing sledge); this sledge, studded with flints, was tied to the yoke of the animals, which were driven around on the threshing floor.

The main scene in the foreground is winnowing, which followed after threshing. For winnowing to begin, a favourable wind, blowing from North to South (to Mecca), was necessary; thus, winnowing started when summer breezes (meltem = off-shore breeze that blows daily for a period in summer) started; the farmers, using large forks (dirgen), tossed the grain and chaff into the air so that the chaff was blown away by the wind and the grain fell on the ground; this motion is clearly seen in the photograph as the men throw chaff and grain to the Northeast. This is the first winnowing after threshing the harman (heap of grain for threshing, mixture) on the threshing floor; a second winnowing of the grain followed, and then the grain was put through a sieve (kalbur = rimmed sieve with coarse meshes). In the photograph there are four workmen from Kioneli (Gönyeli), and their names are: Tuvzuz, Aziz Gara Hasan, Garagöz Ömer and Davulcu Mehmet Ali. All of them wear trousers and white shirts; for protection from the hot sun, their heads are covered with white scarves or hats. They also wear leather peasants’ top boots. No woman is seen in the field.

Information offered by Nebile Dayı and Hasan Dayı.

Source of the photograph: Aşkın Dervişoğluları.

Village: Kioneli (Gönyeli), Nicosia District.