Ethnography Museum

Dance Costumes in the Ethnography Museum.

Last week whilst my family were visiting, Ocal kindly took us to visit Ege University's Ethnography Museum. I believe it is a fairly new part of the University. Prof. Dr. Cengiz Aydin, Chairman of the Ege University Turkish State Conservatoire, Folk Dance Department, pioneered the research project named, 'The Museum and Archive of Folkloric Musical Instruments, Folk Dance, Traditional Attire and Folk Songs in the Balkans and Anatolia Project', which commenced in 2004. The project aimed to collect samples of folk costumes and musical instruments from past to present.

In the main room of the Museum Traditional Anatolian folk costumes are displayed, as well as weapons and jewellery that were used for dance. All of the costumes have so much intricate detail and it is clear that a huge amount of time and work has gone into each and every one of them. Although in modern day a lot of the costumes are remade for folk dance, they are not nearly as detailed. For example, with the Zeybek costumes, (all male costumes pictured above), in the past the black design on the blue fabric was all hand embroidered. However nowadays the black design is often just cut from one piece of fabric to save time and money. Although many modern replicas are extremely similar to the traditional costumes, its little details like this that make the past outfits even more fascinating to look at.

Folk Dance Costume Shop.

Boots, Headdresses etc.

A few days before visiting the Ethnographic Museum, I accidentally stumbled across a little Folk Dance Costume shop in Izmir. Although it was not open, when I explained to the owner my reason for being in Izmir, he was more than happy to show me around. The shop had all the different folk dance costumes, as well as accessories and shoes. The shoes were all amazing and my sister actually bought a pair of the boots just for everyday wear. They cost 100 Turkish Lira which is about £35. But seeing as the boots are real leather and hand-made, I think they are very reasonable. Obviously all these costumes were the modern day replicas but they were of a fantastic quality.

I am currently writing during my coach journey down south. I am visiting my family in Fethiye as tomorrow is another Bayram. It is a religious festival named Kurban Bayram, or Sacrifice Bayram. Tomorrow many sheep all over Turkey will be slaughtered as a sacrifice to God. Then everyone gets together and has a massive feast eating the meat from the sacrificed animals. Hopefully there will be some dancing too!