Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-19
A TURKISH BATH.
One Of the Features Of An
Oriental Wedding.
How An Eng|ishwoman fared As a
Guest.
Many Guests and the Occasion One of
Festivity and Rejoicing.


on a very large scale are sent out to all
relations relatiOnS-to-be and friends,
TO attend the Turkish bath. This occurs
a couple of days before the wedding,
and is always made a day OF great fes-
tivity and rejoicing. whilst the Turkish
women spend hour after hour ut the
bath. eating, chatting and bathing to
the sound of Arab music ana singing.
| was very glad indeed to get the
chance of going to one. Mrs. IL, who
was kind enough to take me, speaks
Turkish well. and l speak Arabic my
self so we knew we should be able 10
get along all right on that point, hut
what rather worried me was the knoWl-
edge that we should be the only two
Europeans there, and, consequently,
thu. cynosurc of all eyes. AS it turned
out. this was fully realized.
The cutter gate was guarded by Turk
iSh solders who were stationed there
to prevent unlimited guests from enter
ing: for. knowing That HassiDeh iIa-
NOUN had engaged the whole bath,
there were actually some women who
thought they would like to come i'll
and have Il bath for nothing.
Two Arab fiddlcrs and Il cymbal play
cg We're discoursing what probably
sounded sweet music to the Arab ear
but which, to put it mildly, was IL little
tying to one. Once through the small
ante-chamher in which they were play
ing, we found ourselves N TIL first ard
coolest of the two large rocias of The
bath itself. This WAS a large SION"
room, with fountains Of running water
in the middle Of ii. IL had a raised ana
cushioned dais all round il, on which
TIE guests were 10 undrcSS ana prepare
fpr the hath. Two small rooms iel out
Of the big one. which were reserved for
Tie favored guests.
Hassibeh IIanoum, the mother Of the
bride, took Us into one of the smaller
rooms, and asked US to get ready there,
making excuses for the crowded state
of the room. She was right. 1t was
crowded, for there were ut least so
hustling, jostling women in it. all eager
to get over the business of undressing
as quickly as possible. At first it felt
impossible to undrcss with Sc many
people locking on, but one seemed to
get into the spirit of the thing after a
little while, for everybody was much
too busy to notice anyone else. The
dressing aftcrward was more difficult,
as | found to my cost 1t seems the lit
tie bride had already entered the
bath. and we had arrived too late to
see her being taken in by all the chief
ladies.
At last we We're ready. Short,
| bright-colored shcets-I must call them
! that FOR want of Il better name-werc
wound round the body with the ends
crossed in front and thrown over each
shoulder, with our hair down and our
| feet in sandals we were taken back
| again into the large outer room which
we had passed through when we first
| came in. 1t was quite warm even here,
and the dais all round the room was
! crowded with women and children pre-
raring for the bath. | tried to count
them, but failed hopelcssly. There
must have been quite a hundred. They
| sWarmed everywhere on the dais, in
different stages of undrcsS-on the
| floor. walking about in bright-colored
bathing sheets-a laughing, happy lot
of women and girls, each of them
ready to get plenty Of amusement out
! of the afternoon. And what mar
| yelously pretty girls some of them
| We're. Perhaps the costume had a lit
| tie to do with it. for there was a par
tiCular grace in the way it was worm
| Sone were tall, some were short
| some plain, some really lovely; fair
and dark; stout and thin. But there
was one thing which they shared in
common. and that was look of
happiness and of pleasure. which
seemed hard to understand when one
stops to think of the dull, monotonous,
narrow life they have to lead. l sup
lposc, though, never having known any
lother, they do not find anything to
grumblc at in their fate, but it seems
unfair that such pretty and gcod-na-
tured women should never be seen ex-
|certing by each other.
L noticed crowd down one end of
the room. and was just asking what
was going on there when IIassibeh
1Ianoum ran up to me, seized my arm.
and told me to come and see the
"arous' (bride). l followed, expecting
to see something very wonderful, and
must confess, / was very much disap-
pointed. What l saw was little girl,
who they told me was IA, but who did
not look more than 10.
Poor little thing. She was not
! pretty, but she had dear little brown
face all the same, and she was so very
shy with all the fuss made over her
She had come out from the inner room
for the sort of half time period which
one has to spend in the cooler room
| after having been in the hot one. for
you must have two baths in the hot
| room before you have done, and Won
spend the time in between by cooling
yourself in the outer one and chatting
to your friends.
| Well, we left the little bride Zahra
/ Ciower) and went into another large
room like the first one but which
seemed to me to be absolutely scalding.
| This one was all marble and had an
| enormous marble slab in the center
with oceans of soapy water running
down it: it was just about as slippery
as it could be, and l slipped my san
dals off. feeling that if / kept them OF,
any longer 1 should soon be SPRAYING
on the floor.
Little rooms. still hotter. if possible.
are built all round this one. and il is I,
these that the actual scrubbing and mas
sage takes place; but all these rooms
1