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Owing to the emphasis placed on cleanliness in Turkish
society, there have
been public bath-houses "hamam" in Turkey since medieval
times. There are separate baths
for men and women, or, when there is only one bath house in the town, different days or
times of day are allocated for men and women. After entering the hamam and leaving
one's clothes in a cubicle, one proceeds, wrapped in a towel "pestemal" to the "göbek
taşı", a large heated stone where one perspires and is rubbed down by a bath
attendant. If the heat proves too much, one can retire to a cooler room for a
while. This
method of bathing is most refreshing and many of the old marble baths are very
interesting, architecturally.
A
Turkish bath combines exposure to dry heat, moist
heat, cold, and massage. This extreme stimulation of
the body is thought to preserve health, as well as
provide a thorough cleaning. |
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First the bather enters a sweating room of dry
heat. Next a wet steam causes the bather to perspire freely. The skin is then
washed with warm water and soap and an attendant massages the muscles. After
being scrubbed and rubbed, the bather takes a cold swim that returns the body
temperature to normal.
The baths or "hamams" as they are called
by the locals, are for more than just cleansing the skin, though. Long before
Turkey was established as a separate country, the Romans, Byzantines, and
nomadic peoples of the region had their own variations of bathing rituals. These
traditions merged, creating an entirely new concept, what we in the west call
the Turkish bath.
A communal affair, the hamam exists for all citizens to visit freely. Women and
men make use of the hamam (although at separate hours)
from the first weeks of life right up to the very end of life. Important
occasions were, and in some townships still are, celebrated with rejoicing at
the bath. For instance, a bride-to-be visits the hamam wearing a ceremonial silk
robe much like an ornately embroidered kimono. She then has a kind of bridal
party with her women friends and young maidens complete with candles and singing
and a ritual tossing of coins.
Intimately bound up with everyday life, as well as the Muslem concern for
cleanliness and respect for the uses of water, the hamam, or Turkish bath, will
no doubt continue to hold its traditional place of honor even in this time of
modern plumbing.
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