KANGAL DOG Turkish Bath Evil Eye, Akide Candy, Helva Hubble Bubble Raki Turkish Delight WHIRLING DERVISHES Mevlana Sufi

INTRODUCING THE KANGAL DOG

The ancients called it Asia Minor that land mass protruding from the depths of Asia into the eastern Mediterranean defined by the Black Sea to the north, the Aegean to the west, and the deserts of Arabia to the south. The land itself is like a continuation of Central Asia - vast, immobile, monotonous. Three high mountain ranges traverse the country from east to west so that the interior plateau, the Plateau of Asia Minor, is high, rugged and formerly inaccessible. Mt. Ararat, the legendary resting place of the Ark, marks its eastern boundary. Asia Minor is modern Turkey and this is the land of the Kangal Dog
(Nelson photo) KANGAL! A name well known to the people of Turkey! Its very name evokes the romance and legendary aura of this land so steeped in history. This ancient breed springs forth like a lion from its epicenter - the Kangal District - a region in east central Turkey located in what is known as the Anti-Taurus. While Turkey has more than one indigenous dog breed, the Kangal is the most famous of them all. This breed's status is manifested by its portrait on a national Turkish postage stamp. If any dog breed can be characterized as the national dog of Turkey, that breed is the Kangal Dog. Standing a minimum of 30 inches (dogs) at the withers and weighing an average 120 pounds, the Kangal Dog is a strongly-built, magnificent dog distinguished by its black face and ears. The short, soft body coat ranges from light dun to steel grey in color and is usually accented with a white chest blaze and white stockings on the feet and legs. Turkish shepherds frequently crop the ears close to the skull, thereby enhancing its leonine appearance. When equipped with the traditional spiked, iron collar around its neck, the Kangal Dog, in its native land, projects an intimidating and powerful image.
The correct, traditional name for the breed in Turkey is Kangal Kpegi or Sivas Kangal Kpegi. (The Turkish word "kpek" means "dog" in English. When used with an adjective in the Turkish language, the word "kpek" takes the form "kpegi.") Thus, the direct translation is Kangal Dog or Sivas Kangal Dog. No other name is acceptable to the Turks, nor to its original sponsor in Europe and the United States The Kangal Dog Club of America, Inc., a non-profit corporation founded to preserve the breed and protect its name.

The existence of the Kangal Dog as a separate and distinct dog breed was first reported in copyrighted international canine literature by the authors, David and Judith Nelson. (Nelson & Nelson, 1983) No American, European, or Australian copyrighted publication pre-dates the foregoing publicity. The breed was advertised in the West and bred as a distinct dog breed since 1984 by the members of the Kangal Dog Club of America, Inc.

To understand the Kangal Dog, one needs to understand the context -- historical, cultural, and physical -- in which it is found. Our objective is to provide all the information needed to understand and appreciate this magnificent breed.

The Turkish Bath

One of the truly unmissable experiences of a trip to Turkey is a visit to the hamam. Like the harem, this Roman and Byzantine tradition was adopted and then perfected by the Selcuk Turks, for whom the public bath took on an important role. It was not merely a place where believers could fulfill the Islamic precept of cleanliness. It was a place in which to mingle, socialize and gossip. Women would proceed from their harem to the hamam with great ceremony, accompanied by servants heavily-laden with delicacies to tide the ladies over the hours they would spend lounging in the steam. The young women used this opportunity to show off their ornately embroidered towels and ivory inlaid slippers, not to mention their youthful figures, while older women would spot potential wives for their sons. Men would discuss the latest court scandal or talk business and politics. Contrary to popular ideas, hamams have always been either permanently designated for one of the sexes, or have a separate schedule for men and women.
Traditionally, a whole range of paraphernalia is associated with the hamam. The pestamal, a colourful, checked cloth which is wrapped around the waist by men is still in use. Takunyalar, or wooden clogs, often inlaid or carved, have generally been replaced by plastic flip-flops. Soap, shampoo and other toiletries were carried in hand crafted copper or even gold plated tarak kutusu, literally comb boxes, and a copper tas was used to pour water over the bather. While some of these are no longer used, they are still widely available to buy, and are guaranteed to add to the pleasure of the hamam experience.

Many hamams were built during the Ottoman era, including forty by Sinan himself. Externally, they have a distinctive domed profile, with bottle glass directing beams of light inwards. The first room encountered is the camekan, a square court with a fountain surrounded by small individual changing cubicles. This leads into a small sogukluk, or cooling off section, opening into the hararet, the hot and steamy, marble clad baths.

A raised marble platform graces the centre of the hararet. Known as the gobek tasi, or navel stone, it is positioned above the wood or coal furnaces which heat the hamam. The bather lies here for a vigorous massage or a kese, which involves the removal with a rough cloth glove of a lifetimes worth of dead skin. On leaving the hamam, you may recover with a cold drink in the camekan or simply stretch out on the reclining couch in your private changing cubicle.

Hamams have largely gone out of fashion in Turkey. However many historical hamams survive, and a visit is highly recommended. In Istanbul the most popular are the historic Galatasaray Hamam in Beyoglu, and Cagaloglu Hamam in Sultanahmet, though local baths are often just as good and much cheaper. Bursa is famed for its baths and spas.

WHIRLING DERVISHES

Islamic mysticism seeks awareness of god in manner being, and hence the various mystic sects o tarikats of dervishes or sufis have generally been characterized by open-mindedness, vision, exuberance and lot of the arts, particularly music and poetry. Their tendency to relegate doctrine and the outer forms of worship a secondary degree of importance has frequently brought the sects into conflict with orthodoxy over the centuries The emphasis on dance music of the Mevlevi’s, and the transgression of the orthodox ban on intoxicating liquor by the Bektasis are issues which were strongly condemned by the Muslim establishment during Ottoman times in Turkey.
The first Islamic sect emerged in Yemen and dates from the 37th year of the Hegira (657 AD) when the Angel Gabriel is supposed to have exhorted Üveys el-Karani to turn his back on the material world and choose a life of asceticism. Each mystic sect by tradition also asserts legitimacy by tracing its origins to Ali or Ebubekir Cüneyd-I Bagdadi (died 910) and other sufis forged a link between the concept of bezm-i elest (the union of God and souls) and the ecstatic dance known as sema introducing various recited litanies in praise of God to the accompaniment of whirling movements. Experts in Muslim jurisprudence have frequently rejected sects such as the Rufais, Halvetis and Mevlevi’s on the grounds that dancing degrades religion. In the early 16 th century , for instance, Ibn Kemal (d. 1534) wrote a treatise entitled "Risaletün fi Tahkik'r-Raks" asserting that music and spinning movements know as devran were sinful, citing early fetva as evidence for his argument, Ebussuud efendi (d.1574), on the other hand, while still disapproving, took the view that with certain modifications and restrictions the practice should be tolerated.

Many of the sects which arose in Anatolia, such a Yessevis, Bektasis and Naksis fell foul of orthodox although the Mevlevi’s commanded the gruding respect of the othodox establishment largely on account of the Mesnevi, the greatest philosophical work of Mevlana Celaleddin-I Rumi, a Turkish Sufi who migrated from northern Persia to Anatolia in the 13th century. The sed which grew up after his death is by far the most fascinating in terms of dervish culture, including ritual and costume

The sema of the Mevlevi’s differed from the movement adopted by other sects. The dervishes turned independently, without touching shoulder to shoulder, both around their own axis and around the sheikh and other dervishes. They made neither a sound no any movement of the hands arms or head The Mevlevi novice underwent long years of self-denial, penance and training in the sema The state of trans which the sema induced cut off all awareness apart from that of communion with God. The Bektasis, however ridiculed the Mevlevi dance as an unnecessary adjunct to the worship of God. Mevlana(d. 1273) believed that the spirit was relieved of the weight of the flesh in the course of the sema, and that the jubilation which emanated from man2s true being as sense and thought could only be experienced in this way. Although the sema could be practiced singly, it was customary for the dervishes to perform the sema together at noon in the semahane or hall of dergah. The dervish responsible for the ritual would spread the sheepskin which symbol ised the office of the sheikh, head of the convent, on the floor of the semahane. Wearing their white costumes with voluminous skirts known as tennure and tall hats, the dervishes would perform their prayers when the sheikh warning a green headdress appeared. After readings from the Mesnevi and the Koran, one of the dervishes would begin to play the ney, a reed flute of great antiquity whose plaintive music is associated almost exclusively to the Mevlevi sect.
Lord Charlemont, who traveled in Turkey in 1749 gave the following account of the Mevlevi ceremony, which was performed in public on Tuesdays and Fridays to an audience which included many women.

"The crowd pressed toward the extremities of the chamber, which was occupied by the monks dressed, as usuand in a gown of coarse whitish cloth, close before and behind, and fastened about the was it with a leather strap. Over this they wore a sort of jacket… On their heads they wore caps of the same color, usually made or camel2s hair, and stiffened into the form of sugar-loaf (The prayer) was succeeded by a long hymn, performed with great vociferation, and to our prejudiced ears, with little music, and accompanied by a sort of flute or baut bois and by a large tabor like a small kettle-drum. As soon as the hymn was ended, the instruments changed their tune into something of a quicker movement, and the monks began to turn themselves round with a velocity not to be described or easily conceived. Our most fixed attention could not count the number of their revocations, but according to our best reckoning, they must have exceeded sixty in one minute. This painful exercise was continued for a considerable time, till at length the music ceased, and they stopped seemingly undisturbed by giddiness, and thus the ceremony ended." Galata Mevlevihane, the dervish convent visited by Charlemont, was one of Istanbul’s most distinguished centers of music and literature until the turn of the 20th century. Many major Turkish composers, calligraphers and poets trained here. Foremost among them was the scholar and poet Seyh Galip (1757-1799), who under the patronage of Sultan Selim III and his sister Beyhan Sultan became seyh of the dergah.
The Mevlevi dervishes had lodges in many parts of Turkey, including Afyon, Kütahya, Bursa, Gelibolu, Aleppo, and of course Konya the home of Mevlana. In Istanbul there were Mevlevi lodges at Kulekapisi, Bahariye in Besiktas, Kasimpasa and Üsküdar. They all consisted of a large inner courtyard surrounded by the semahane, a room for the novices, reception rooms, a harem where the family of the sheikh lived, refectory, and kitchen. Day began with morning prayers and meditation, and continued with study of Mevlana's writings, and then music practice on the ney and kudüm, a small double drum played with small sticks. Although Charlemont referred to the dervishes as monks, the resemblance is only slight, since dervishes married, kept their own homes, and made their own livings.