In our opinion, the inner material of the pastry is directly related to the purchasing power of the society and the products produced by the people themselves, considering the conditions of the period and the mentioned century. Internal materials such as lentils, onions..
Baklava in Poetry Songs and Folk Songs - Baklava in Divan Literature
Desserts are as important as meat and rice in the Ottoman palace cuisine . Even on daily tables, dessert, which has at least one variety, equips banquet and Ramadan tables. Various desserts such as halva, lokma, kadayif, zerde, ashura, pudding, rice pudding and jelly adorn these tables. Dessert culture started in Turks with Islam and developed rapidly. Therefore, religion has a great influence on the sweet eating habits of the Ottomans. Opening the iftar with dates, cooking ashura in Muharram, cooking halva after the dead and pouring bites are examples of these.
Desserts made with sugar or sugary foods can be divided into three main groups: dough desserts (baklava, kadayif, künefe), halvah and milk desserts (such as rice pudding, pudding, Kazandibi). We can collect desserts such as zerde, ashura, pumpkin dessert in a different group.
It is a common tradition to make and serve sweets on days such as birth, marriage, death, oil lamps and holidays, in some regions of Hıdırellez, to start the meal with dessert to increase the fertility of the house, to cook halva or a similar dessert at home on the first day of moving home.
In Divan poetry, sweets are usually the lips of the lover, his words, the water of his mouth, the poem of the poet, etc. They are used in relation to.413
The subject of food has taken its necessary place in its various branches in the vast accumulation of our poetry. But this has happened in different ways and in different ways. While Anonymous Folk Poetry is sometimes symbolic but mostly in plain and bare expressions, in everyday language, in its literal sense and close to it, in Saz and Tekke Poetry, it takes place in Divan Poetry414 with more artistic and metaphorical expressions.
No matter how tricky it is to make, no matter how expensive the ingredients are, no dessert can take the place of baklava. Baklava is the indispensable dessert of celebrations, feasts and holidays. It has always been a symbol of sharing, especially in joys. Some sweets and candies, such as ashura and akide, are also served on special occasions, but they still cannot be compared to balava.
According to the findings of Priscilla Mary Işın, the earliest record of baklava dates back to the XV. It is mentioned in the poem of Kaygusuz Abdal, who lived in the first half of the century:
Two hundred trays of baklava, some with almonds and some with lentils, almond baklava is usual, but lentil baklava is a bit surprising. XIX. Since in the cookbooks written in the 19th century there is baklava made with cowpea paste, why not with lentils?416
In our opinion, the inner material of the pastry is directly related to the purchasing power of the society and the products produced by the people themselves, considering the conditions of the period and the mentioned century. Internal materials such as lentils, onions and black-eyed peas are produced by people themselves, there is no need to buy them from outside, and more importantly, the Anatolian people do not have the opportunity to buy them.
As we have mentioned before, baklava; layers of phyllo and almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, honey, molasses, etc. It is a sweet dessert made of ink. Over time, people have used baklava, which is a type of dessert, as a meal on their tables, with the obligations of the conditions and their search for new flavors, by adding other ingredients and using salt instead of sherbet .
Again, according to Mary Işın, the first record of baklava made in Ottoman palaces is in the Matbah-ı Âmire book in 1473. However, other ingredients of baklava, apart from phyllo dough, are not specified in this notebook. It is understood from the records of the later periods that walnuts, honey and plain oil were added to the Ramadan baklava prepared for the people of the palace.
XIII. In the Arabic cookbook of the 19th century called Kitabü'l-vusla ile'l-habib fî vasfü'l-tayyibât ve't-tîb, there is a recipe for today's turbanburma baklava. Therefore, there is information about baklava in the dates before Kaygusuz Abdal.417
The couplet about baklava written by Zatî418, one of the important poets of the classical period Ottoman divan literature, is quite remarkable both in terms of stating how high baklava was seen in Ottoman society compared to other dishes and in terms of describing the delicacy of baklava dough through literary arts. Namely:
In your mind, you are rice, I am yellow and zerde, let's be Hem-table, come, a nice pleasant place
A puhte makiyân-veş inside the mahbûb yufka.
O husrev-i zamâne, they are eye-catching Şîrî muhallebidür şî'rüm code in the eye
With the word of the enemy, everyone does not get used to it, O friend.
'Make your heart stand out with the fire of light, but your heart will be delicious.
With enthusiasm, baklava-veş yufka hearted Zâti Vasf itdi no la'l-i nâbun 1ezzeti Şekerde419
In the last couplet of the poem, the poet, while trying to express his own heart in front of his lover, also explains the delicacy of the baklava very well: O Zâti, who has a tender heart like baklava, describe your lover's garland lips with enthusiasm; because the flavor in it, the taste in it, is not even in sugar. The poet likened the yufka (it is very thin and fragile) with the grace of his own soul, emphasizing the delicacy of baklava yufkas.
James Stanislaus Bell, who visited Sinop in 1839, is one of the people who most literarily describes how to open baklava as thin and light. Bell likened the dough of baklava to butterflies and said:
“Butterflies that would fly if their wings were not sticky with honey”.420
In his statement, the author emphasizes the elegance of the butterfly and states that the phyllo dough (due to its thinness) is as elegant as a butterfly. This expression is important both in terms of showing the skill of Turkish masters and in terms of Europeans observing our taste, elegance and quality and introducing them to their own people.
Ayas Pasha, one of the famous viziers of Suleiman the Magnificent, was a statesman who had a habit of arranging fast-breaking meals during Ramadan. People from all walks of life, such as poets, writers and ordinary people, would attend the invitations. The poet named Güvahî421, who made these invitations, described the baklava on the table in his work Pendname as follows:
Evil eye hair on fried baklava
Eder simile moment has become bedr aya422
Guvahi, using literary arts, refers to the round and aesthetic appearance of the baklava tray like the fourteenth of the month, and mainly tells that a fried tray of baklava is beautiful, bright and attractive just like the fourteenth of the month and it is not enough to watch. As it is known, the expression "fourteenth of the month" in our literature expresses the meanings of beauty, brightness, attractiveness and perfection. The value of Baklava compared to other blessings at the iftar table of a Pasha is as much as the other days of the fourteenth of the month.
It is also possible to evaluate the poem in terms of shape and color. The shape of the trays being round and made of copper, especially the color of the tinned copper reminds the fourteenth of the month (full moon).
XVI. Baklava is mentioned in the eulogy about fasting by Rahmi from Bursa, one of the poets of the 19th century.
It is a baklava sûreti with a tray.
Here, Baklava is discussed in terms of shape and color. In his eulogy, the poet likens the moon and the halo surrounding the moon to baklava on a tray, prepared for adults in Ramadan. In this respect, baklava acts as an element that is likened to simile.
Sultan II. Ziver Ahmed Sadik Pasha424, one of the statesmen of the Mahmud and Abdulmecid periods, was one of the vizier poets. He was also a ready-made human being. He was one of the famous people of the time with the strange but elegant anecdotes he told in his conversations. They had interesting sofas. For example, in one of these divans, there is a poem called "Hamsi Gazeli". In this poem about food, he also mentions baklava. Namely:
Crush your meat and mix it with lazut so that it becomes a paste.
Make a baklava from this ham with thin, hungry hazelnuts. If you smash pistachios with almonds, it will be pure Pür-bahâ Veterans halva, if it is roasted in oil.
Ol hamîri kaygana also made it, connoisseurs of curiosity, They poured it, that is, they made a tin of a black bone, look at the taste. It's like halvâdur revâni lokmadur cute-mezâk Anchovy has a sweet shop in every house425
In the ghazal, it was emphasized that the inner material of the baklava in the Black Sea region (due to the production of hazelnuts) is made by adding hazelnuts and the dough is rolled very thinly. However, it is also stated in the poem that the best baklava is made with pistachios and almonds, and it is stated that this is invaluable.
Baklava is also mentioned in the poems written on cigar in Divan literature. We take the following stanzas from the pamphlet called “Hûbannâmei Nevedâ” written in the pseudonym of “artsmen around”:
Baklava maker is like a peanut
If he sees a rose, he will be resk o rûyi âli Nightingale's tongue from sweet sugar from honey
Here, while praising the baklava maker, the poet explained that his cheek was as fresh as a pistachio, his cheek was red like a rose, and his tongue was like a nightingale and that it was sweeter than sugar than honey. Rose petals are associated with baklava dough in terms of being thin and layered. It is understood that the red color of the rose is preferred, and the fried one of the baklava is preferred.
In Camesbname427 of Abdi, one of the masnavi poets of the 15th century, there are couplets with baklava. In fact, although Abdi's work is a book about the hereafter rather than worldly things like eating and drinking, baklava has found a place for itself here as well. For example;
Baklavas were rich in oil and honey.
Sükkerî halva's ü palûzeler Almonds were rich in oil, bular428
Hatab samsa429 pastry with both eggs
Begsimed and even yooğlu donut430
The poet Abdi, while describing baklava, stated that halva and paluze are made by mixing almonds with plenty of oil and adding sugar to it. It has been emphasized that it is desirable to have plenty of ingredients that will add flavor to halva and baklava, especially almonds, oil, peanuts and sugar. It was stated that it is necessary to be thankful by mentioning the tastes and abundance of world blessings such as egg samsa (rolling pin) baklava, oily buns, and rusks.
The places where baklava is used in our literature are not limited to divans. We also come across baklava in folk poems and epics. Baklava is mentioned in the "Naval Epic" written by Üsküdarlı Râzi, a folk poet from Tophane during the reign of Abdülhamid II, in which he tells about the brutality of his sailors:
Roasted rice with zerde Both baklava and börek Every time we leave the table, we need to open our hands and pray We are glorious from the navy
Bıçkın, we are young, long live Sultan Hamid, we are Hero Ottomans431
From the verses above, we see the existence of the etiquette of prayer in Ottoman table culture. In Turkish-Islamic culture, the tradition of making a table prayer after a meal is a very common and ancient etiquette, and this tradition is kept alive in Anatolia, especially after mass meals.
Years of Absence and Longing for Baklava
In Istanbul, the lower and middle class people, especially the low-income civil servants, experienced severe deprivation during the years of the First World War and the subsequent 1918 armistice and the painful occupation. In the serious and humorous newspapers of that period, the reflections of this expensiveness and narrowness were widely encountered. In the Aydede humor newspaper, Abdülbâki Fevzi says the following in an ode in the column entitled "Be style kudemâ":
Look who has become a lowly rank, who is now Fasulya, velîünnîmeti bi imtinan now
I'm bored, my God, I don't know what the hell I should do. The house has moved from its foundation, the ceiling has collapsed, I don't know what I'm waiting for, pastry, meat, baklava, morning and evening. an eggplant now has no salarymen, today it makes a difference. It is alive, a perfect shepherd from a wise man, now432
It is possible to analyze the social and economic structure of the period from the above lines. 93
Turkish people have experienced great difficulties during the years starting from the war and then the Balkan Wars to the post-World War II period. So in these periods;
it has difficulty in finding even basic foodstuffs, let alone foods that can be considered luxury;
He is longing for foods such as pastry, meat, stews, and especially baklava. In the verses, the name "baklava" is specifically mentioned, not "dessert".
The fact that it is a must-have may suggest that
Baklava in Divan Literature, which was definitely on the table of every rich and poor household, especially in exceptional days, was very difficult to reach in those years and was in a position that could only be imagined.
In the old holidays, there was not a single table without baklava in Istanbul, until it reached the home of the most low-income family. The majestic dessert was the epitome of both the feast and the blessing. The taste of Great Istanbul was lost in the Balkan War disaster.
Ramadan has come, welcome
Baklava tray came empty
The nursery rhyme came out in the First World War
In our time, neither the old mansion nor its baklava remains. There is no dough board and rolling pin in the kitchen of high society, which has settled in luxury apartments. Baklava trays of middle-class families are seen in bakeries and especially on the eve of the feasts.
Instead of deducing from the above statements of the esteemed Istanbul researcher R. Ekrem Koçu that baklava has less place in today's tables than before, it is necessary to see the sociological reasons underlying this change.
Namely; Factors such as the rapid progress brought by industrialization and technological changes, the increase in production by changing economic systems, the decrease in the need for manpower with the mechanization of production and the increase in population have left the old mansions to more modest residences, revealing the nuclear family models instead of the extended family.
Especially with the entry of women into business life, meals made at home naturally have brought to the fore practical methods that take less time to prepare. In all these social changes, baklava, which is our main subject, has never lost its importance on the table, but has turned into a ready-made purchase. On the other hand, the tradition of making baklava at home, especially during the holidays, is still a living culture in many parts of Anatolia in Turkish society.
Sultan of Desserts in the Ottoman Mansion: Baklava
In the old Istanbul mansions, there were also dough spreaders for baklava and börek. They were people who had spent their lives being skilled at this job. Without exaggeration, they used to spread forty phyllo sheets as thin as rose petals on the baklava trays. Kidney oil was used most favorably in baklava. Cooking, boiling sugar and sherbet were separate specialties. There were such mansion kitchens; Baklava, which was superior to the palace-ı Hümayun kitchen, was prepared. For example, the mansion of Dürrîzâde Efendi, one of the scholars of the reign of Sultan Mahmud II, in Üsküdar was quite famous in this regard.434
In an Istanbul mansion, the filling of baklava has always been walnut. Pistachio and creamy baklavas are a recent tradition for Istanbul. The top of the baklava is like this, in the traditional Istanbul mansion, the top of the baklava is a plain yufka fried like a pomegranate. Sprinkling peanuts and walnuts spilled on top and putting a piece of cream on top is definitely an infringement on that plain beauty due to lack of manners. Baklava is the sultan of yufka desserts, which does not accept a partner in its reign of flavor.
There are two forms of Istanbul baklava. In one, the phyllo dough is spread flat on the tray, then crossed with a very sharp knife, it is cut in a way called samsa. The old bazaar baklava makers also adopted this form.
Secondly, half the amount of phyllo was prepared according to how many layers of phyllo it would be. For twenty layers of baklava, ten sheets of dough are rolled out, a pinch of walnut, which is a mortar, is placed on the dough board, starting from the edge and going to the core. The edge was closed like a lid on the yufka walnut and cut around it with a knife, a semicircular piece of baklava was obtained and these pieces were arranged on the tray that would go to the oven. It was also called “rose baklava”.
The fact that the bazaar baklava makers did not prefer this shape was because it wasted more in favor of the yufka. In the mansions, the chefs used to make fake desserts for the horanda team in this yufka fire.
There is also a caterpillar baklava. It was also prepared like a rose baklava, except that the dough was cut long, rolled up like a pipe with its mortar, then crumpled longitudinally and placed on the tray like a turban twist. In the past, it was not called baklava, it was called caterpillar dessert.
XIX. In the famous poem of Enderunlu Vâsıf, one of the poets of the turn of the century, written by a neighborhood girl from Istanbul and addressed to his mother, we come across “baklava” in the following continent:
Don't open the yufka pasta sheet to me
I don't know, pastry samsa baklava Yapub one or two kinds of food rude saba
Go to the mansion for the invitation and perform the ibtida tomorrow.
I can't look for a playboy at the age of fifteen435
Poems were written by the amateur poets of Istanbul, who hold a pen and speak, as well as for various artisan groups, as well as for baklava shopkeepers. There is a poem written by the late Vâsıf Hoca, a folk poet from Üsküdar, in the Aksaray Bazaar between 1883-1884, for a beautician from Rumelia who was making mobile baklava with a tray on his head. Although her costume is described in the poem, the name of this baklava maker is not written. It is only recorded that he was from Lofça and sold the baklava his father made. Some parts of the poem named “Baklavacı Güzeli” written by Vasıf Hoca are as follows:
The beauty of baklava The beauty of beauties Eighteen carat gold Every strand of her bangs
With a loincloth on his waist, with a silver trowel in his hand, the best of baklava in the beauty of Rumelia
His father is the master of rose petal pastry City The people of Istanbul are sick of Baklava
It sells three trays a day. The sound of the nightingale sells.
The year is one thousand three hundred and one, O pen, let me know my state. Heart is clean, criminals. My eyes and my tongue.436
These years, which coincide with the years 1883-1884 in the Gregorian calendar, are the period when Rumelian lands were lost after the 93 War and many immigrants came to Anatolia from the Balkans. As it can be understood from the verses above, this family, who lost their homeland in Rumelia and migrated to Istanbul, is trying to make a living by selling the baklavas prepared by their fathers at home by their children in the bazaar. Here, we indirectly derive the following information: A Balkan immigrant family can produce baklava with a taste that can be prepared at home and sold on the market, moreover, three trays a day.
Baklava Pastry Brotherhood
In Turkish, the concepts of honey, baklava and börek are widely used to express a rich table, well-being or taste. The reduplications of "honey-baklava", "baklava-börek" appear in phrases or phrases in the form of phrases or poems. For example, Ali Çamiç Ağa's poem is as follows:
I know it's a bad omen. My tassel broke from the test
Singing like a nightingale, Yarim flew out of the cage
What's wrong with the promise of loyalty
Oh, if I say from the heart, you will creep, my angel
Not baklava pastry, one bite of a fritter!
It does not pass through my throat
A wicked cruel lunatic.. (Ali Çamiç Ağa)
Here, the phrase "not to pass through the Bosphorus" means to be cut off without eating or drinking or to eat with difficulty due to the longing for the beloved.
As we mentioned, pastry and baklava are foods that are often mentioned together. We frequently come across this unity and brotherhood in old and new Turkish cuisine , both for family or banquet tables , to be sold in the bazaar, and in novels and stories.438
In Istanbul, market pastry shops, shopkeepers, bakeries, interior material sellers or mobile tradesmen are an important business area that supports thousands of households. Bazaar pastry in Istanbul has had a great reputation since ancient times. Within this sector, for example, there are districts such as Karaköy or Sarıyer, which are remembered for their pastry. We can also see that the culture of going to the pastry shop, which has been around since the old Istanbul times, is still alive.
Just like baklava, börek is commonly prepared in a home or neighborhood bakery or on a barbecue. Sometimes, some of the pastries are cooked in a pan and fried. We can see this frying method in the "ear baklava" of the Crimean Turks today.
Pastries are named according to the way they are prepared, such as tray pastry, water pastry, puff pastry, bullfrog pastry, amulet pastry, sleeve pastry, and spring rolls, or according to the ingredients included, such as plain pastry, mince, spinach pie.
Until the social transformation made ready-made yufka widespread in the markets, the phyllo dough for the pastry was not bought ready-made, but opened at home. In this respect, börek had a more careful position at the table, it was a burdensome work. The thinness of the dough was among the skills of the cook or housewife.
In old Istanbul, only the unmarried butlers of those districts ate the market pastry. Even in the most modest family table, market pastry was not tolerated, and was given to the laziness and skunkness of the woman of the house.
Börek was especially sought after at invitations and wedding tables; So much so that the following rhymes were born in the mouth of the people:
Baklava pastry I need there
Where is the pie I need there
Tarhana tartar tears the throat
Baklava pastry Come save me
Although its regular customers are foreigners and singles living alone, in the past, Istanbul's bazaar pastry shops showed the utmost care to their pastries and made truly delicious pastries, providing themselves, their bakeries and shops with great fame: Hasan Paşa Hanı Bakery, Beşiktaş Börekçi Bakery, Karaköy Börekçisi. Like Giridü Börekçi in Eminönü Balıkpazarı. Even mobile pastry shops sold pastries prepared with the best oils. Especially the puff pastries in the bazaar were a wonder of Turkish cuisine.439
In the old tradesman's regulations, it has always been strongly recommended to use clean oil and ingredients about the market pastry shops. There are the following provisions about the pastry makers in the tradesmen's regulation, which was issued in 1680 during the reign of Sultan Mehmed the Fourth:
- Pastry makers will use minced meat from mutton, they will not mix any other meat with mutton mince.
-They will not drown the minced meat with onions, the onion will be the decision. -There will be a lot of onions, little meat and most of the pastry will not be empty.
-They will hold the dough with good flour.
- Essential oil will not be used.
-The pastry makers who do not comply with these rules will be dealt with.
The rich calender poets who praise the böreks of Istanbul in verse have not forgotten the beauties of börek makers. The following poem is by Üsküdar Âşık Râzi:
The beauty of the pastry opens the yufka
Watch the crescent with your shirt, no matter what you look at.
That shûhu should be counted secretly.440
It is possible to see baklava with other food names in the famous “Food Epic” of Şerife Hanım, who was born in 1869 and is famous for her name as Bülbül Hoca, from Konya. Namely:
First of all, we made the soup from the beginning, the trotter seasoned with garlic, We should cook the okra with tomatoes.
Become a börek with baklava And sugar halva become a fortress
Open the katmer thinly, do not use oil.
Artichoke and celery, spinach Carnebet and purslane together
Let the mikla, poached, ravioli and ravioli come to the slippery, let the pasta and the keskek, the couscous
Let the shalga be poured while it is cooking Let the remaining food be isti'mal
Meatballs, stuffed leaves and cabbage Sar'erik, zerdali, chickpea stew Zülbiye, beet, radish salad Let them be pure and perfect in it too
Bi-hamdillah, we ate blessings, our time is time of absence.
Pie and especially baklava are indispensable for sweet conversations at friends and friends gatherings. It is known that the Shuara assemblies were famous as well as the scientific assemblies in the Ottoman Empire.
In addition to these, there are many gathering occasions where people come together for conversation and conversation. It is understood that baklava has an important place as a valuable treat in these assemblies. In today's Turkish folk culture, these assemblies are called "yarenlik", "gezek" etc. in some regions. We can see that it still continues under the names. These epics are an important source in Turkish folklore history, cultural anthropology and cultural history studies.
Baklava has also found a place in the poems of our poets of the last period.
For example, in Kenan Erzurum's poem "Friends", baklava is mentioned as follows.
The excitement is over, the order is broken. Don't ask about the rest anymore, friends.
The sound is trembling, a malfunction has been detected,
Oh, don't see these, friends.
Do not ask how I am, where am I, Do not wait for the time of friendship, Do not see small mistakes, Please do not scold, do not hurt friends.
If you knew how the food smells, Özeniyom; it burns me all the way,
The eye sees; I'm hurting one by one Oh, don't give a tick, friends.
No one said it was the pillar of the house, I can't eat baklava.
This is how the situation is presented today, Porridge without salt is our menu of the day, Let's get it from there and here, the subject of the conversation, Don't be nervous, my friends.
The years are sifting through their own sieve,
Whoever gave takes me back,
Isha is early for me,
Don't stay too long at our house, friends.443
Eating baklava is a sign of youth and health. Baklava is the crown jewel of the indispensable treats of all kinds of joyful associations (engagement, wedding, etc.) of social life. However, as time passes and diseases begin to appear, it is necessary to pay attention to food and drink. In the poem, a reproach was made to the progress of age. It was emphasized that after a certain age one should not eat too much baklava, but it was expressed that this should not be perceived as a weakness, but rather as a requirement of age.
One of the poems in which börek and baklava are used as an example of wealth is “The Epic of the Rich and the Poor”.444
Wherever the rich go, they are asked for their sake, Baklava and pastries are given at once, Is the rich and the poor seen as one? The jacket on his back is split.445
In the poem, in which the prestige of the rich due to their money in social life and their superiority over the poor are expressed, baklava is mentioned as an indicator of respectability while expressing the demand for the rich. Baklava is not always an easy dessert to make. However, it is a treat to the remembered guests. As a matter of fact, many materials and labor are required to make baklava.
This takes the treat out of the ordinary. This treat, which is not easy, is among the treats given to the wealthy who are respected. In the part where baklava is mentioned in the epic, the demand for the rich, that is, the situation of "eat fur" has been tried to be explained.
Baklava, the Subject of Folk Songs
Baklava, which we have seen in many genres of literature until now, has also been the subject of folk songs and folk poems. It manifests itself in poems written in many regions, laments, and entertainment times such as weddings, engagement and henna. For example, there are some wedding songs sung in traditional wedding ceremonies with Turkish folk material compiled from the Eastern Black Sea Region.
One of the local traditions is the practice defined as "brother-in-law". It is stated that he was portrayed at the engagement ceremony held in the girl's house. While they are playing, the groom's relatives in groups demand everything from the girl's mother, who has to fulfill every request. Finally, the mother-in-law ties a veil around the groom's head. The way the song that accompanies this ceremony is sung in Arhavi is as follows:
As soon as the break comes, break! Let the chicken come to the tack!
As soon as the break comes, let the break Baklava come to the tack!
As soon as the break comes, break, Let the nap, tack!
As soon as the break comes, the break is lost, give a break!
As soon as the break comes, let your brother-in-law come to the tack!
As soon as the break comes, let the break come to your mother-in-law, tack!446
The mention of place names, types of food and drink in folk songs, laments and epics can be interpreted as the culture that people create around the names given to settlements and food and beverages. As a cultural element, it is easier to transfer them to generations by mentioning them in such folk literature products. The extent to which place names, food and drink are common and old for a society can be evaluated depending on their occurrence in such texts.447
For example, the oral products produced by the society in Gaziantep were quickly put into writing through compilation studies. Thus, it was ensured that the culture formed around place names, food and beverage names could be transmitted to future generations more easily.
Here is a Gaziantep folk song with baklava in it:
The baths of Antebin are rocking, the furnaces are the bottom of the Hoşgör neighborhood, the nanny of baklava in the name of Çiğköfte.
Eat as you wish
All in all Anteplim
Come with me a darling
Ciftetelli is playing, get up and let's play448
Baklava was also featured in the chorus of a folk song that the children of Istanbul sang while holding hands and holding colorful small lanterns on their way to and from the mosque in the old Ramadans. The words of the aforementioned folk song "Hele Sâ Yele Sâ" are as follows:
Uzunçarşı has become mud Baklava has become dough Tiryakis have become sluggish Especially sa yele sâ.449
Seyranî's Irony: Leek Became Baklava
Baklava was also included in the poems of Âşık Seyrani (18001866), son of Cafer Ağa, one of the top names of Turkish Folk Literature and the imam of Develi district of Kayseri.
Hearing of Seyrani's fame, the lovers of the surrounding provinces and districts often come to Develi and quarrel with him. Seyrani makes them give up by making them talk about his mastery. But now Develi has become too narrow for him, he desires to go to Istanbul.
Seyrani came to Istanbul in 1839, probably the year Sultan Abdülmecid ascended the throne. In those years, attention was paid to semai coffeehouses and word assemblies in Istanbul, and lovers were seen and listened as wise people.
The addicts of these assemblies would not leave the minstrels alone, they would carry them from the council to the council, from the cafe to the cafe. The lovers, who came together in the palace, in the mansions of the statesmen and in the mansions of the rich, met, chatted and quarreled with each other. Some pashas and gentlemen patronized the poets and provided them with a comfortable life. Seyrani, who goes to Istanbul at such a time, meets the saz and pen poets of the time. Seyrani completes his madrasa education, which was left unfinished while in Istanbul, and wrote many poems and epics. One of them is the poem "Epic", which includes baklava and the whole of it is given below.
Weird things have increased in the century I don't know who is doing these things All the disgraceful dogs have taken the world.
Let me tell you a little bit, the people of the time, the people of the time, have fallen down, you have become the December dogs, the commander, the dog is commanding the wolves.
The pups don't like wheat flour Silks fell down from the yarn
The dynasty always served standing up.
The armchair hair does not matter From the beard The merchants went down from the grocery store From the jackal who shepherd the lions Now the jackals are herding the lions The school and the madrasah disappeared
The thing called honor has disappeared. Now one goes to what he knows.
The drunks have multiplied and they are sober This century so that the situation is worthy The name of the museum is faithful informant Now one goes to what he knows
Your names won't be sold if I change them
The hawks kept their home, the bat replaced the baklava, the leek, now it's in demand, deyyus and terese Zamane are in demand for these
Boys don't like their fur. They teach their fathers wisdom. The little ones whose noses come out of the eggs are squeaking because I'm a rooster
The little ones make the elders wear socks. The sweet makes people eat bitter. Seyrânî calls time like that. Now people go to what they know..450
In the couplet that uses baklava, Âşık Seyrani tried to explain that in his time, leeks were worthless and baklava valuable, and that incompetent people were in demand. The existence of the concepts of social cohesion, justice and happiness in the society depends primarily on giving the job to the competent person. It is seen that baklava represents a mature, perfect and honest person, while leek represents a mean and raw person.
Just as it is obvious that there is a training method for baklava by processing the dough, opening the dough, keeping the inner ingredients in the right order, and giving the sherbet while making baklava, there is a necessary training system for the formation of a mature person. If the baklava does not go through this training system, its dough will be raw and the syrup will not be thick.
In the poems of Koca Ahmed, one of the poets of Konya region, from another region, baklava is mentioned as follows:
From morning to having a good mood Even if a sack of cannabis is all through, and in the end, to open our stomachs.
I don't eat too much, maybe I will. Forty-five is not enough. Pastry baklava One hundred thousand batman would draw regret pan If those who carry food were as many as a thousand
When it comes to zerdeye pilaf, nevbet
I would have eaten ten cauldrons of rice, ulfet .
Even if it's ten cauldrons of Ashura
I'll take it for the coy lover arzû Melon, watermelon let alone ba'dehu If it were a cucumber ten inches tall
Eighty goats and forty-nine kids Thirty cows, sixty-nine calves
As seen in the verses above, baklava has a unique place among all foods and beverages. The poet mentioned the sweets while specifying the most acceptable dishes of his period in his poem. He stated that a place should be reserved for baklava even when the stomach is at its fullest, and he preferred baklava among desserts. It is also possible to obtain information about the 19th century cuisine and table culture of the Konya region from this poem.
Baklava in Cooking Epics
The epics, which have an important place in folk literature, have quite a variety of subjects. It can even be said that our lovers have told epics on almost every subject. Rich Food epics is one of them. Food epics, together with the types of food they contain and the foods related to it, are in a way a document in terms of local culture and history.453
The first poetic works on food in our literature are in XIV. With the end of the century XV. It belongs to Kaygusuz Abdal, who lived in the first half of the century. These poems are known as "simatiye" in our literature. Simat means "dishes on the table" and simatiye means "poem about food". The names of food and food are mentioned in the Sımatiye:
“Sugar, Gülbeşeker, Halva , Honey, Paluze, Güllab, Honey Kaygana, Cream, Oil, Salt, Bread, Pastry, Pastry, Barley Bun, Millet Bun, Pilaf, Rice, Bulgur, Tarhana, Keskek, Noodles, Kebab , puryan, roasted, stew, meat, Burmese, kalye, samsa, olives, onions, carrots, dates, peaches, cherries, grapes, apples, pears, plums, cherries, watermelon, cowhide, trump, hazelnuts, pistachios, chickpeas, dried Grapes, almonds, tzatziki, water, sherbet, loaf, pita bread, katmer, mustard stew, vinegar and garlic trotter, spicy somag, zerde, oily herze, pudding, milk rice, meatballs, höşmeri, baklava, mammonia, zülbiye...” 454
Doğan Kaya makes the following determinations about food, giving examples from some writers:
The ingredients, preparation and presentation of the dishes is a separate beauty and richness in Turkish culture. Refik Halit Karay expresses this so well with his fluent and beautiful style that those who read his lines find themselves in the event. Karay is of the opinion that the food we eat takes its final form by developing, for example, a pot of stuffed leaves, a sea bass with mayonnaise or a revani is the same as the invention and construction of a steamboat machine, an electric lantern, and a microscope. In his book, Ago Pasha's Memories, he tells us the following:
“People go through a thousand molds and treat them with a thousand kinds of treatment, and sometimes they create such a wonder under the name of food that they judge me as if the creation bit their finger. , consider a tray of palace baklava:
Isn't that delicacy and perspiration freshness in its fiber as elegant and gentle as in a rose petal? Isn't there the fullness of a magnolia bud in that fluff and the perfection of the bed in the order in my partition, and the elegance of a cemenzar in the red-spotted sweet landscape? What if you don't find its taste as sweet and sweet as figs, one of the most delicious fruits?455
There are many rules about eating and drinking in our anonymous folk poetry. regular; It means concise and measured words that are technically superior, reflecting experience and opinions, uttered on various subjects and mostly in pairs or triads. Most of the food codes, which include table manners, which vegetables and fruits have what properties, which foods will be more beneficial to the body when taken, are proverbs. Here are a few of them:
Take the spoon in your hand, bring Basmala to your tongue
Little great masters, the table is yours, welcome, El house is like heaven, feed your stomach
With pear stalk With grape litter With molasses cube
Don't be satisfied without seeing the baklava, don't count I ate okra456
Food epics are very important sources in social history, cultural anthropology, cultural history, terminology history and folklore history research. In addition, these epics perform important functions for our national culture in several ways. Namely; They are a source about which of our national dishes are. They keep the name of Turkish dishes, which have been made throughout history and many of which are not made today.
They constitute important material for the Turkish language with the names of the dishes they contain. They contribute to Turkish folklore in this field in naming. Since they contain information about eating and culinary culture in Turks, they show the quality of documents in a way.
Among the food epics, there are examples of epics that only deal with a food, drink or fruit. For example, the epic of "Boz Ayran" by Ruhsati457, which is given below, is one of them. In this epic, the poet tells that he preferred ayran instead of baklava because he was burning with the heat:
What should I do with the baklava pastry But you cool the burnt heart my God, do not miss the pillar of religion Besides, a nice brown ayran458
Mania, Rhymes and Riddles About Baklava
Manis is one of the most important folkloric products of our folk literature. Manifestations have been arranged and constructed, memorized, sung, even forgotten, all over the Ottoman Empire for centuries. There were also times that some of the manis were combined into a folk song with a special composition. It is still possible to come across hundreds of women who know mani, not only in Istanbul but even in the most remote villages of Anatolia and Rumelia. Although some manis are arranged with the dialect of a particular region, they are generally common. That's why there are thousands of manias today.459 The subject of mania is not limited. It is possible to find mania in almost any subject.
In the past, the guards, who performed an important service, also had duties such as raising the people for sahur by playing drums and reciting mani during Ramadan nights.
On some Ramadan nights, after Taraweeh, small children with a small drum hanging around their neck, glass, oilcloth or paper lantern in front of the mansions and houses of well-to-do and middle-class families, a drummer or someone with a beautiful voice in the crowd recite mani, tips from the wealthy houses where they stop with the passers-by, food, etc. It became one of the important customs of Ramadan.
Watchman's poems have an important place both as a folk literature text and as a folk music subject. As various traditions are mentioned, such as lighting oil lamps in manis and minarets, building ridges, making trees from sugar, throwing balls to announce the times of iftar and sahur, going to the Maiden's Tower for iftar in the years when Ramadan coincides with summer, and the children of the neighborhood grinding lanterns, the sultan sent baklava to the janissaries on the fifteenth of Ramadan. The procession is noteworthy because it also deals with the preparation and eating of Güllaç baklava.
The main baklava-related manias are as follows:
I left the road with the Basmalah, I saluted, left and right
Oh my lord, may your Ramadan be blessed
The string of my drum is tabby They call me Deli Bekir Chief Chef Bring the baklava If I can't eat it, take it back463
Another mania:
They call it the month of Ramadan and Balinan eats baklava.
This custom is established in this way, drummers also sing mani464
Singing Manis is not a tradition unique to Istanbul or only certain regions of the country. Each region has its own mani culture. For example, an example of Ramadan mani from the Samsun region is as follows:
Sultan of eleven months, every moment is precious Welcome, Ramadan, you decorate this world
Ladies and gentlemen, did you go to bed, did you cook the baklava? It's time for sahur, did you add the sherbet?
Everyone waits patiently, no waste of effort, we're coming to iftar Let the food be prepared465
Baklava in Local Manis and Rhymes
As an anonymous folk literature product, there are manis that are known and sung in general Anatolia, as well as manis specific to certain regions. For example, the tradition of chanting mani in Adana is a tradition that has been shaped by the experiences of centuries and has reached the present day by being transferred from generation to generation with certain rules. In Adana manis, we see that the mentality, tastes, loves, longings, troubles, common feelings and behaviors of the people of Adana are reflected, and the traces of the tradition of the culture of the region are exhibited.
Adana manis are sung in a unique tradition. In them, like other folk culture products, we can determine the dynamics that keep the society alive. In addition to these, we see Adana people's view of the world and their aesthetic models in these manias.
Among the Adana manis, the largest part is the love manis. “Love, longing, separation, lamentation, praise, complaint, marriage wish, reproach, jealousy, lamentation of misfortune, thought of death due to love, taking an oath, warning the lover, not keeping one's word, estrangement, suppressed feelings etc.” 466 An example of Adana mani, in which baklava is in, is as follows:
White broad black berry His leaf touched the water While the bridegroom was praying, the bride ate baklava467
An example of a nursery rhyme from another region of our country, Kırklareli culture, is as follows:
Tarhana tartar Tears my throat Baklava brother Come save me468
Another "counter rhyme" from Çanakkale with baklava is as follows:
Oh, baklava baklava Have you eaten baklava? Have you kept it from its shore? Ha me, me, he won't give his daughter to Hasan469
Again, another "traveler's rhyme" from the Biga region of Çanakkale is as follows:
The traveler came, did you hear? I said hello, did you get it? Have you eaten baklava or are you full? Hütleme Hüt a spoonful of milk...470
In another region, Elbeyi, there is another rhyme similar to the one above. The rhyme classified as the "peddler's rhyme" is as follows:
The traveler has come, did you hear? Did you eat baklava? Hütleme Hüt a spoonful of milk471
Baklava in Riddles
Riddles, which are one of the important elements of Turkish oral folk culture, also include baklava-related elements such as baklava and dough, flour, börek, sherbet, tray, oven.
My back rolled, I kissed sugar; Honey and almonds, how sweet Adam (baklava)
Torn Gypsy Pasha appears before him (baklava)
Hand me, call me
Wait for me at the pier
I'm a lady I'm a woman Feed me with sugar472 (baklava)
Six overspread
My Uncle Mustafa (borek) in it
comes from the mountain comes from the stone
My brother-in-law comes with an ashy face (donut)
six stone sand
Yellow Turkish delight473 (donut) inside
front cuff end cuff
There are four letters in the middle474 (cream)
Playing sandals in yellow water475 (puff pastry)
If I take it to the room, it won't cry If I take it to the table, it won't cry If I take it to the stove, it will cry (oil)
do not bleed
Can't come to January
Even if it comes, it can't come back (oil)
Someone boils someone plays476 (meal-ladle)
From Varvara there comes
From the snowy mountain comes the snow. From the unmilked cow comes the unwashed oil (honey)
There is no trace of Idris wandering No honest wandering flat Idris has made a donut It has a taste No salt (honey)
big mouth omen
Red apocalypse
I aged and it came out dry
Salli ala Muhammed (oven)
fairy tale mascara
His nose is black (oven)
Wide mouth, majestic
Nonstop works day and night
Gets wet and gives dry
This riddle477 (oven) in everyone's mouth
arab snatch
Cengi biner
sand boils
Plays the tail478 (Trivet, pot, cornmeal, rolling pin)
Does not fit in the castle gate
Does not enter the hazelnut shell479 (minaret, walnut)
flat lying pointed rubbing
Between the two, a job is done (breadboard, rolling pin)
It snows from the low roof480 (sieve, flour)
bigger than camel
smaller than a sparrow
honey sweet
Bitter from poison (walnut tree, walnut drink, walnut leaf)
six marble top marble
Omar wrinkled inside (walnut, hazelnut, almond)
I looked from behind black cloud I got next to it iron lock (walnut)
The food of my little pot is very sweet (walnut) Locked chest in the tree481 (walnut)
Note:
The original text, which is accepted as a source, is as follows. Google translation was used for the necessary language change.