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“Once upon a time, when
camels were town-criers, rats were barbers, donkey was the sealer, mule was the
arm keeper, I was swinging my parents’ cradle slowly; I was confused, white
beard, black beard, new beard shaved by barber; if I was a butcher I could not
wave the chopper, if I was a blacksmith I could not shoe the mule, if I was in
the Turkish bath would I as for the watcher; I came away from a far away river,
a hill, went in a box and what did I see? A woman was sitting at the corner, I
spent big effort and convinced her; she stood up and looked at my face, we left
together and walked straight forward without going to the right or left; we
walked for long time, crossed plains and hills and spent six months and a spring
–when we looked back we realized that we have not walked even at a single wheat
length, we could not go back or walk forward, so let me tell you a story… Once
upon a time in Bursa there were two human beings named Karagöz and Hacivat…
Karagöz and Hacivat in
the 14th century
Karagöz was a rude man with
a stick in his hand who use physical power very often, mostly indiscreet and
sometimes a cheater. Hacivat was a flatterer man with changing personality,
using nice words while speaking, attending all weddings and entertainments…
With their unique style
“Hacý cav cav” and “Karagözüm”, Turkish puppet shadow play’s two main characters
Karagöz and Hacivat, whether we are in good mood or bad mood, have been making
us laugh for centuries...
Poor and uneducated Karagöz
goes into trouble very often because of his ignorance, and to hide his ignorance
he acts as misunderstanding what he is told and makes words look like other
words, puts the person he is talking to in a difficult position. Hacivat, who is
good in turning the situation on his advantage by using his talent in language
and limited knowledge, is the person who comes across Karagöz’s
misunderstandings at most cases. It is rumored that Karagöz used to wear red
clothes all the times, with a tobacco bag in his hand, interesting hat showing
his bold head, and had black beard and round face; Hacivat used to wear
decorated green clothes all the times, with a conical hat in his head, and had a
pointed beard and long face. These two met during Bursa Ulucami mosque’s
construction and their fame spread to all Ottoman territory. It is rumored that,
Sultan Orhan thought that the mosque’s construction was going slow because of
Karagöz and Hacivat’s quarrels which were making everyone laugh and sentenced
the two for death... Sultan made the two to be executed but the tale of Hacivat
and Karagöz, even if they never existed, centuries have passed, and modern
technology causing disadvantages for traditional Turkish shadow art, still
making everyone,
from the age of 7 to 70 and
from every generation, to laugh and will continuo to do so...
Traditional shadow art
Shadow play, although its
source not known for sure, thought to be originated from China, Indonesia, Cava
and Bali islands and developed after that. European voyagers who visited these
areas, while returning to their countries took this art with them and made their
people to love it. In the mid 18th century shadow play, especially in France
under the name of “China Shadows” attracted big admiration. Unfortunately, like
any other fashion, the interest in this play lasted only until 1860 and its
popularity
among people declined over
time and finally disappeared. According to thesis of some researchers, shadow
play was
brought to Anatolia by
gypsies who came from Cava and India. According to different information, since
this play is
mostly performed by the
Jews, shadow shows have Spanish and Portuguese origins and people who
escaped from these
countries brought it to Anatolia.
Shadow play
in the Ottomans
It is know that shadow play,
which includes human and animal figures obtained by cutting and painting leather
or similar
materials, and these
figures are attached to sticks and played behind a cloth screen using candle
light, brought to our
country after conquest of Egypt by Selim I. After he watched this play in Egypt,
Selim I brought puppeteers to Istanbul, and after that Öküz Mehmed Pasha brought
shadow players to Istanbul city from the country of pyramids. When certain
actors like Karagöz and Hacivat became main figures in shadow play, this playin
Ottoman territory and obviously in
Egypt performed in Turkish
language with revised versions and continued to spread.
All the time source of
laughing
Shadow play, became famous
under the name of Karagöz, approached social problems with a witty language,
implies, and jokes and nowadays it is still being performed. Karagöz and Hacivat
used to be performed in holidays, cafes,
circumcision feasts and
weddings; at the end of the 1970s it was audio recorded on tapes for children,
by the end of the 1980s it was thought to be forgotten, but nowadays once again
it is receiving the interest it highly deserves. In the movie
directed by Ezel Akay
called “Why were Karagöz and Hacivat killed?” Beyazýt Öztürk and Haluk Bilginer
are casting and this movie once again made Karagöz and Hacivat to add joy to our
lives. Why were Karagöz and
Hacivat killed?” called
movie once again made Karagöz and Hacivat to add joy to our lives.
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