Some of the Weavings Used in Turkish Bath in the Context of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Authors

Ayşem YanarFollow
Feryal SöylemezoğluFollow
Zeynep ErdoğanFollow
Özlen ÖzgenFollow

Date of this Version

2016

Document Type

Article

Citation

Crosscurrents: Land, Labor, and the Port. Textile Society of America's 15th Biennial Symposium. Savannah. GA. October 19-23. 2016.

Comments

Copyright 2016 by Ayşem Yanar, Feryal Söylemezoğlu, Zeynep Erdoğan, and Özlen Özgen.

Abstract

Hand weaving has a very old history in Anatolia. In addition to carpet and rugs, almost in every region it could be possible to see local weavings. Some of the weavings perished and others still continue to exist. These weavings which have to be evaluated as intangible cultural heritage have been protected by the geographical indication suspended license in order to protect them from losing their unique properties. Changes in the dynamics of tourism with the improvements in technology and the emergence of alternative forms of tourism, have increased the importance of local and touristic products. Turkish Bath has always been a topic of interest for tourists. Besides, hand crafted products such as copper bath bowl, clogs, soap, marble basin, and woven loincloth (peştamal) and sacare the other products complementing the tradition. In Turkish baths, both females and males uses loincloths for covering up and drying the body, sac is used to clean the skin. In some regions of Turkey, bath loincloth (peştamal) and sac weaving still continues. Nowadays with the increase of interest to baths, the interest to loincloths also rises. These weavings which have been found authentic by the domestic and foreign tourists, started to be used as daily clothing in rural areas and used as covering in the city centers. Besides, they are also used on beaches, saunas and SPAs in order to cover and dry the body. In this study, the current situation of traditional weavings such as loincloth and sacs were analyzed in terms of their properties and current situation. The analyzed loincloths chosen from the bath museums in Ankara, and some photographs that belong to these loincloths are presented in the study.