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Zen NetSurfing.
May. 31st, 2006 06:43 amFollowing down a fascination with middle-eastern Hennaing practices in period, particularly of the Ottoman Turks, I found this, which has little to do with period--being written from the perspective of one who was a small child in the 1940's--and may or may not have much to say about henna--I haven't finished it through yet--but is lyrically written, and fascinating in its own right, about the hamam. Turkish baths.
Example:
In fact, I can now admit, we loved her more than we loved our mothers. We reasoned that since she was under no obligation to hold us dear, the fact that she did, meant we were worthy of affection. Consequently, we never believed the loose talk from parents and neighbours that, given the law of nature whereby every woman is ruled by the maternal instinct, Sophie, destined to remain unmarried and childless, needed, perforce, to treasure every child that came her way, even curs like Selim and me.
~nods~ Go and look. It's lovely.
EDIT, upon finishing the article:
~wry snicker~ Well. Yes. Delightfully written. Also from a male perspective. It's the memory of when he was finally expelled from the Women's Bath. ~covers eyes~ Oh my...
Example:
In fact, I can now admit, we loved her more than we loved our mothers. We reasoned that since she was under no obligation to hold us dear, the fact that she did, meant we were worthy of affection. Consequently, we never believed the loose talk from parents and neighbours that, given the law of nature whereby every woman is ruled by the maternal instinct, Sophie, destined to remain unmarried and childless, needed, perforce, to treasure every child that came her way, even curs like Selim and me.
~nods~ Go and look. It's lovely.
EDIT, upon finishing the article:
~wry snicker~ Well. Yes. Delightfully written. Also from a male perspective. It's the memory of when he was finally expelled from the Women's Bath. ~covers eyes~ Oh my...
