Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire (34 page)

As soon as a young girl had reached puberty, she donned the
veil and no man could see her face and body unless it was her father, immediate
male kin, and, later, her husband. She even covered her hands with gloves. To
preserve her privacy and veiled status, the windows of the women’s apartment
opened to an inner courtyard. If there were any windows facing the street, they
were barred so tightly that no outsider could see the inside of the room.

In the first half of the 18th century, ladies of the court
and women of upper classes wore a pair of very full pants that reached their
shoes and concealed their legs. These pants came in a variety of bright colors
and were brocaded with silver flowers. Over this hung their smock with wide
sleeves hanging half way down the arm and closed at the neck with a diamond
button. The smock was made of fine silk edged with embroidery. The wealthy
women wore a relatively tight waistcoat with very long sleeves falling back and
fringed with deep gold fringe and diamond or pearl buttons. Over this they wore
a caftan or a robe, exactly fitted to the shape of the body, reaching the feet “with
very long straight-falling sleeves and usually made of the same stuff as the
pants.” Over the robe was the girdle, which for the rich was made of diamonds
or other precious stones, and for others was of exquisite embroidery on satin.
Regardless of the material it was made of, the girdle had to be fastened “with
a clasp of diamonds.” Over the caftan and girdle, women wore a loose robe
called
cebe,
made of rich brocade and lined either with ermine or sable,
was put on according to the weather. The headdress for women from wealthy
families “composed of a cap called
kalpak,”
which in winter was of “fine
velvet embroidered with pearls or diamonds and in summer of a light shining
silver stuff.” The cap was “fixed on one side of the head hanging a little way
down with a gold tassel, and bound on either with a circle of diamonds or a
rich embroidered handkerchief.” On “the other side of the head,” the hair was
laid “flat and here the ladies” were “at liberty to show their fancies, some
putting flowers, others a plume of heron’s feathers,” but “the most general
fashion” was “a large bouquet of jewels made like natural flowers; that is, the
buds of pearl, the roses of different coloured rubies, the jessamines of
diamonds, the jonquils of topazes, etc, so well set and enamelled ’tis hard to
imagine anything of that kind so beautiful.” Finally for their footwear, women
wore “white kid leather embroidered with gold.”

Women did not leave their homes before sunrise or after
sunset, except during the holy month of
Ramazan,
and even then, ladies
from wealthy families did not appear on the street unless they were accompanied
and attended by several servants, who walked at some distance behind them.
Segregation between the sexes was observed at all times. Men did not walk on
the street next to their wives or mothers, and inside the house women had their
meals apart from the men. Even among poor families, a curtain separated the
men’s quarters from the women’s. On everything from steamers and ferries to
streetcars, which were introduced in the 19th century, curtains designated
separate compartments for women. Until the second half of the 19th century,
even Christian churches observed and respected the segregation of sexes in a
house of worship.

Piety was the hallmark of a woman’s life. Muslim women
prayed five times a day and fasted during the month of
Ramazan.
On
Fridays, many attended prayers at a mosque where they had their own section,
separate from men, and, during
Ramazan,
those living in Istanbul went en
masse to evening service at the majestic
Şehzade
mosque. Many women
of power and prominence had their own personal prayer leaders (imams) and
spiritual guides.

Going to a bathhouse was another important occasion for the
women of the household. Once a week for at least four to five hours, the women
of rich and powerful families set out for a nearby bathhouse, followed by a
retinue of servants carrying on their heads bathing robes and towels, as well
as baskets full of fruit, pastry, and perfumes their mistress was to consume
during her long visit away from her home. Once inside the bathhouse, women
relaxed, took off their clothes, drank coffee or sherbet, shared the latest scandal
or gossip, and lay down on cushions as their slaves braided their hair. With
the introduction of private baths, public hammams lost their popularity, but
they never disappeared completely.

Before the arrival of capitalism and modern factories in
the 19th century, a woman living in a village or a tribe played a far more
important role in the economic life of her community than a wealthy woman
living in a city. From working on the land and caring for animals, to spinning
wool and cotton, and producing rugs and carpets, the economic function and the
social role of a village woman was critical to the survival of her family and
community. She was also responsible, by custom and tradition, for keeping the
house tidy, preparing meals, and taking care of children.

In sharp contrast, the rich urban woman was far less
critical to the economic life and survival of her husband and family. Among the
rich, cooks prepared the meals, while nurses, nannies, and tutors took care of
the children and their daily basic needs. This level of support provided
wealthy women with ample time to enjoy themselves by going to parks for
picnics, inviting female friends and relatives for coffee and sweets, and
entertaining their guests with dancers and musicians. In the second half of the
19th century, a new middle class educated in European languages and Western
ideas emerged. Women from these middle-class families began to attend schools
where they studied foreign languages, European history, modern ideas, and
philosophies. It was from the ranks of this new class of educated women that a
new generation of female business leaders, parliamentarians, and scholars
emerged.

Ottoman women in the traditional
clothes. Dames Turques (1863–1869).

A woman of Istanbul (1667).

DIVORCE

Divorces were prevalent in Ottoman society, and men could
divorce their wives without any explanation or justification. In numerous
instances, women also filed for divorce. There were three types of divorce. The
first was
talaq,
which allowed a man to “divorce his wife unilaterally
and without going to court simply by pronouncing a formula of divorce.” The
Muslim women in the Ottoman Empire could not use
talaq
to divorce their
husband, but they had the right “to obtain a court-ordered divorce (
tafriq
).”
A “woman could also negotiate a divorce known as
khul
with her husband
by agreeing to forego payment of balance of her dower or by absolving him of
other financial responsibilities.” Affluent women seeking divorce paid an
additional sum of money to secure their husband’s consent to divorce. Unless “the
khul
divorce specified otherwise, a woman gained certain entitlements
upon divorce.” She could “receive any balance owed on her dower, and material
support for three months following the divorce.” Payment of alimony was “decided
by the court on the woman’s application, not only in cases of formal divorce
but also in instances of abandonment or if the husband failed to provide for
his family.” Additionally, “any underage children born of the marriage were
entitled to full financial support from their father.” At the time of divorce,
it was unlawful for husbands to take from their wives anything they had given
them, including gifts before marriage and during the wedding ceremony.

The wife was entitled to divorce her husband and seek
another man if she was not satisfied with the house to which her husband had
taken her. She could also file for divorce if the marriage remained
unconsummated, if the husband was impotent or mentally unstable, or if he had
committed sodomy or intended intercourse in ways that were viewed as abnormal,
or if he had forced her to drink wine against her wishes. Other legitimate
causes for divorce were “incompatibility, ill treatment, including physical
abuse by the husband, financial problems that led to altercations between
spouses, adultery, failure of one or both parties to keep to the basic
expectations of marriage, especially not doing the work the family needed from
either husband or wife,” and the inability of the wife to produce sons who “were
greatly desired and needed for financial security, to carry on the family and
support the old folks.” Women were often blamed for not producing sons, and
divorce “caused by a lack of sons was not uncommon.” A man without a son was
justified by custom and tradition to marry another wife who would produce a son
for him.

Though divorces were common in the Ottoman Empire, there
were many factors that worked against them. Because marriages were arranged
between families and not individuals, divorces would not only impact the
husband and the wife but two large and extended families, which had established
personal, familial, and at times, social and financial ties. Both families had
invested a great deal, both in expenses and goods, not to mention time and
emotions. Poor and struggling families, who had spent a great deal to purchase
household goods and build a house, could not afford losing their investment.
Outside financial concerns, the impact on children and “public shame” were also
important factors in preventing divorces. If “a man or a woman caused a
marriage to dissolve for what fellow villagers thought was a bad reason, the
entire village would censure him or her, and public shame was not easy to live
with in a closed society.”

After divorce, both men and women were free to marry again.
In the Quran, divorced women were commanded to wait “three menstrual courses”
before they could marry again. Very few divorced individuals remained
unmarried, and though women were required to wait 100 days before remarrying,
this rule “was routinely broken” and remarriage came shortly after divorce. If
a man divorced his wife, he could not remarry her until she had wedded another
man and been divorced by him. In case of a second marriage between the same
individuals, the husband was obligated to promise the payment of
mehr.

11 - EATING, DRINKING, SMOKING,
AND CELEBRATING

Preparing,
serving, and eating food was of the utmost importance to the social life of
every urban and rural community in the Ottoman Empire. Around “this basic
element of life revolved numerous rituals of socialization, leisure and
politics.” Consuming food “in this world was most closely associated with the
family and home, for there was no such thing as a culture of restaurants and
dining out was rare.” When a person ate outside his/her home, “it was usually
in the home of a friend or family member.”

Ottoman cuisine synthesized a wealth of cooking traditions.
The ancestor of the Turks who “migrated from the Altay mountains in Central
Asia towards Anatolia encountered different culinary traditions and assimilated
many of their features into their own cuisine.” As they conquered and settled
in Asia Minor and the Balkans, they left a marked impact on the cuisine of the
peoples and societies they conquered. Their own daily diet, in turn, was
greatly influenced by the culinary traditions of the peoples they came to rule,
such as the Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, and Kurds. Indeed, the wide and diverse
variety of Ottoman cuisine can be traced back “to the extraordinary melting pot
of nationalities that peopled the Ottoman Empire.”