Village Harvest Festival

We were invited to attend a harvest festival in a small village about 70 km outside Ankara. The mayor had heard about our work and invited us as special guests to visit the village school, which is in great need. We attended with Seda, our interpreter, and some of her friends.

The festival was wonderful. There was lots of traditional music, with singers and instrumentalists: a drum, a piercing reed flute, and a sach (like a lute). There were also wonderful dancers.

Our grandsons would have loved the male dancer's costumes, because each one featured a weapon. The young men each had a dagger hanging from his belt, and the older men danced with swords and had a dagger, pistol or other weapon tucked in his waistband.

The dress of the villagers was as colorful. More than half the women wore the traditional long skirt and headscarf, but several wore the full trousers that are tight at the ankles but very voluminous and low in the crotch. Many men wore the traditional trousers, which I have captured in the last photo.

After a few hours at the festival, we visited the school and then went to a private home for some refreshments. It was a holy day, one of three before Ramadan starts next month, so the hostess had made special sweet desserts.

It was a wonderful, most interesting day!