The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-01
TURKISH women
AS seen AT HOME
Epochs in Their Lives and
Their Customs
PROUD OF NATIONALITY
Are Very DRAMATICALLY Attached to Their
Religious Beliefs Despite Arsu-
ments Othcrwise-Have
Right of Property
PROUD OF NATIONALITY

Except for these disconnected few, the
great majority of Turkish women are
very proud of their nationality and of
their traditions, writes Mrs. Kenneth
Brown in the Metropolitan Magazine And
although l read in magazine articles that
their religion is losing its hold over them,
/ can only say, from living with them
and talking to them, that the impression
made on me was that they are still as
fanaticalIy attached to their religion as
the most devout Catholic or Protestant
Is to her form of worship.
The first II or IS years of a Turkish
girls life is not different from that of
any other girl. She plays with children
Of both sexes, Turks and Europeans. The
instant, however, that she becomes a wo-
man and takes .tchirchaf-the loose outer
garment which conceals the figure-her
companionship with boys ends. She no
longer accompanies her father or visits
that part of the house called selamlik,
where the men are. She lives in the part
Of the house called haremik, and begins
her education as a woman. She learns
what is expected of her as sister. daugh-
ter, wife and mother. She is not deprived
Of her European friends, nor of the
chance of making new ones. She is per-
mitted to study-and to go about freely,
although always yelled and attended.
Turkish women, from the time they take
tchirchaf, acquire full rights over their
property, If any has been left to them.
They handle their own money. and it
would surprise European and American
women to know how far Turkish women
are ahead of them in legal rights. Many
OF them acquire considerable business
ability, and there are women today who
plead their own cases in the courts and
also those of their friends who are unable
to do so themselves. In the last % years.
too. great change has come in the age
at which they are married. Today it is
rather rare for girl to marry until she
is II, and I have had friends who were
married after they were 20. They are
now much better educated than they. used
to be-and that takes time.
1t is true that their marriages are "ar-
ranged for them; but hardly any more
than those of Greek girls, or of Italian
or French girls. But instead of having
to bring dowry to the man, as European
girls do, the Turkish man settles a GER
tain sum of money on his BRIDE which
belongs to her in case of divorce
When a young man reaches the suitable
age his relatives speak to him about mar
riage, and If the idea is pleasant to him
his mother, sister and aunt or other fe-
male relatives goes forth in search of a
bride. She visits the various harems or
her friends and scrutinizes the girls in
them. The latter know the reason of
this visiting, but there is no more humil-
iation in it than there is in the calling of
young American man on the girls of
his acquaintance-which is remotely the
search for a wife. In each case it is a
matter of custom.
Upon the discovery of the right young
woman, the envoy talks with the girls
mother, and the mother with her hus-
band. They investigate the history and
character of the bridegroom, if they do
not already know him., and If he proves
satisfactory he is permitted to pass and
repass beneath the girls windows If
she likes his appearance he comes and
asks her father for her hand. STIMULATING
the sum he will settle on her, and also
the manner in which he will provide for
her.
Weddings almost always take place on
Friday, the Mussulman Sunday. On Mon
day and Tuesday the trousseau is eXhib-
tied, hanging from the beribboned dopes
IN several fOOmS. everything Is tucIc
from pocket handkerchief to most elab-
crate gown. and may be viewed by any
one who wishes to-even by strangers.
The rousseau is an extensive affair, con-
tanning as 1t does practically linen enough
to last her entire life, and a great num-
Der of outer. garments.
On Wednesday the poor and the rich
are toasted all day long Thursday the
bridl and her friends have their bath par
ty. If the bride is rich she has her own
bath house; If not, they go to the public
haman and stay all day long. They are
scrubbed and perfumed. their finger nails
dyed red and their eyebrows penciled. On
Friday at the wedding itself, no unmar-
ried Turkish women are present, but |,
being a foreigner, was sometimes admit
ted. have spent the last night of her
girlhood with many of my friends, and
with two exceptions they were all delr-
iously happy. They went to their hus-
bands with all the hopes and ideals which
exist in the heart of any American wo-
man, and trusted that these unknown
men would realize their ideals And in