Birth and Marriage Traditions in Çorum
According to a survey titled “Life’s Turning Points” by the Çorum Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the three great transitions of human life — birth, marriage and death — are each met in Çorum with their own beliefs, customs and ceremonies. This page brings together the documented traditions around birth and marriage.
Birth: Kırklama and Al Basması
Kırklama is a washing ceremony performed after birth to protect the baby and mother from evil spirits. Forty stones are gathered and washed, then placed in a water vessel; the mother bathes with this water and is thereby “kırklandı” (past the forty-day threshold), after which she bathes the baby with the same water. During the ritual, water is scooped from a bowl and fingers are dipped in while counting “five, fifteen…” up to forty; the water is then poured over the heads of mother and child three times. Afterwards, the remaining water, together with the stones, is poured out in a place no one will step on.
Al basması is a folk belief that new brides, or women who have not yet completed the forty days after childbirth, may be afflicted by a supernatural force. For this reason, new brides are not allowed to leave the house for a few days after the wedding; women in confinement are never left alone, and if unavoidable, a knife or weapon is placed by the head of their bed. They are dressed in a red nightgown and red headscarf; the appearance of red marks on the body is taken as a sign of having been struck by “al.”
The Road to Marriage
The marriage process begins with söz kesme (“cutting the word,” i.e. the formal proposal): the groom’s family, together with family elders, goes to “ask for the girl.” The girl’s manner — even the way she opens the door — is read as a kind of signal. If the match is approved, sherbet or coffee is served and an engagement date is set.
A marriage custom unique to Çorum is Beşik Kertmesi (“cradle betrothal”): children born in the same month or on the same day, whose families are close, are betrothed while still in their cradles. The groom’s mother sends the baby girl a silk outfit along with her cradle, gold where means allow, and gifts; that evening the bride’s family hosts a meal for the groom’s family, a hoca or an elder woman brings the cradle forward and recites a hymn, sherbet is drunk, and the infants are thereby considered betrothed. Such betrothals are broken only in extraordinary circumstances.
Henna Night (Kına Gecesi)
Shortly before the wedding, a party of women from the groom’s house, carrying lit torches, goes to the bride’s house. Women elders, holding candles, bring the bride before her mother-in-law while reciting these lines on behalf of her mother:
Baban çarşıya vardı m’ola Mes, pabuç aldı m’ola Fadimem kınan kutl’olsun Bindiğin atlar etl’olsun
Wet henna containing a coin of gold is placed in the palm of the bride, brought before her mother-in-law, and her hand is closed; gifts are pinned on her, and guests toss money into a tambourine held over her head. At the groom’s house, a groom’s henna is likewise applied, usually by a friend or best man, accompanied by prayers.
The Traditional Village Wedding
According to Turkey’s Culture Portal (source: Asst. Prof. Dr. M. Mete Taşlıova, Çorum’da Somut Olmayan Kültürel Miras — “Intangible Cultural Heritage in Çorum”), old village weddings unfolded over several days: cutting firewood, milling wheat by ox-cart, opening the flour sacks, baking bread and yufka, sending sweets to neighbouring villages, cooking keşkek and pilav, taking the bride to the bathhouse, the arrival of mounted and on-foot guests from neighbouring villages, and each evening the “night square gathering” (gece meydan âlemi) in the village square, where dances such as halay, zeybek and sinsin continued until dawn.
On the wedding day, the bride kisses her father’s hand and is set on horseback to be taken to the groom’s house; on arrival, a clay pot is smashed, an egg is broken against the door (meant to “break” the bride’s stubbornness), oil is smeared on the threshold (for the new household’s abundance), and a baby boy is placed in the bride’s arms with the wish that her first child be a son. In some villages, around Alacahöyük for instance, wedding traditions following similar stages are still recounted today.