Day 11 Thursday, August 9, 2001

Carla Beddome (Stocks)-1st half of the day cstocks@home.com
Carla Phelan-2nd half of the day cphelan@ees-i.com

PART 1
Van Museum

The day started with a trip to the ethnographic museum in Van.

The first floor displayed Uratian exhibits including jewelry and pots
from 5000 BC. The Urations used Van as their capital and were destroyed
by the Syrians. There were prehistoric carvings of bison, reindeer,
etc. Upstairs they had local Kurdish kilims. One area displayed the
skulls left from massacres of Turks and Kurds by Armenians.

We learned of the Van cat that has a blue and green eye, has a
triangular shaped face, is sensitive and deaf. They only live at
certain altitudes.

The Eastern part of Turkey is known for growing animals. Nomads moved
together and maintained their cultural identity. Assimilation was not
possible because the Nomads were required to move around and live in
their black tents.

As we were leaving the museum, Meli saw two men carrying a box down the
stairs. They had just found 7th Century BC silver shields covered with
bronze, buried in soil at a nearby temple. They were cleaning them up
and getting them ready for display.

The kilims in this region used colors of pink, blue and white. Designs
were unique to the families. Because the looms are limited in width by
the size of the tent, the kilims were sewn together to make them wider.

The museum guard at this particular museum earned about $150 per month.
He is interested in moving to a higher position so he can double his
salary. He is going to school and of his 230 million lire monthly
salary is spending 150 million on books. He must know English and pass
a conversation test before he can be promoted.

Local Kurdish Student Dancers

We drove to Lake Van to have lunch and enjoy local folk dancers.
Meli hired students from the local youth center to join us and dance for
us before lunch. They were dressed in the costumes that are worn while
working in the fields. The women's sleeves were very long and rolled up
and tied with a bow above the elbow. A drummer and a gentleman who
played a flute-like instrument accompanied them. The students danced in
a style similar to our line dancing with their arms bent and interlocked
fingers. The dancers at each end of the line were waving a handkerchief
in time to the music.

Part II By Carla Phelan cphelan@qwest.net

We board the boat with the tent and make our way to the island of the Akdamar monastery. What remains of the monastery is a beautiful little Armenian orthodox church built in 917AD. We see beautifully preserved carvings of St. George, Jonah and the whale, Adam and Eve and others on the outside. When we go inside we see original frescoes including a Jesus that closely resembles Al and a fully dressed crucifixion, which is a distinctively Armenian depiction.

Meli tells us of a beautiful legend surrounding the monastery’s name: Once there was a priest on the island who had a beautiful daughter named Damara. She fell in love with a Muslim shepherd from the mainland. Every night she would call to the shepherd who would swim to the sound of her voice. One night, her father locked her at home and pretended to be her calling to the shepherd. The young man followed the calls in all directions until he lost his bearings and drowned gasping “Ah Damara”.

We make an attempt at singing “Swing Lo Sweet Chariot” inside the church. Then two Turkish girls sing a song for us. Then it is time to go swimming. Several guides help about 8 of us go down to the beach while Meli and the others rest in the shade at a picnic table near the church. The beach is small and very rocky but the lake water is wonderful – just the right temperature, slippery and salty. It burns our eyes at first but keeps us very buoyant so it is very relaxing. Soon it is time to go. We sing “Amazing Grace” in the church as our farewell and board the boat again. The boat circles the small island as we sip tea and watch the beautiful rugged scenery pass by. Our last stop for the day is in Van at the Urartu Oriental Rug Bazaar to see kilims. I think the sales pitch we received here disappoints many of us. Meli says that the man who has given presentations to her groups here before was not around this time. Several of us spoke, later, to the man who gave our presentation. He appeared to be very hostile towards Turks in general which may explain why he passed over many of Meli and Al’s questions. Some interesting items we did learn (or I have added) are as follows: Kilims traditionally serve many household uses – room dividers and door covers, bags and containers, baby cradles, bed coverings and table cloths, as well as floor coverings.

Older large kilims often have a seam down the middle because the older looms were narrow. Newer kilims are made on much wider looms and can be all one piece. One distinction between kilims and knotted pile carpets is that in kilims individual color sections are worked individually. In carpets, the weaver works across the horizontal length of the piece adding colors as needed to complete a whole row of knots. There are three main types of weaving used in Turkish “non pile” rugs:

Kilim – variations on a plain weave where the weft threads go in and out between the warp threads. The way in which the threads of different color sections intersect and the degree to which the weft threads are beaten down create subtle differences in the look and strength of various specific styles.

Soumak – the weft threads are actually wrapped around and over the warp threads creating an exceptionally smooth, heavy and sturdy fabric.

Cicim – extra (often thicker) weft threads are interlaced into a basically plain weave ground fabric giving the appearance of embroidery. Often used on lighter weight pieces such as curtains.

Each tribe or village has it’s own distinctive pattern.

Two good books with more information are:

Living with Kilims by Alastair Hull and Nicholas Barnard

Tribal Rugs by James Opie

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MELITOUR EASTERN TURKEY TOUR

Soumak – the weft threads are actually wrapped around and over the warp threads creating an exceptionally smooth, heavy and sturdy fabric.

Cicim – extra (often thicker) weft threads are interlaced into a basically plain weave ground fabric giving the appearance of embroidery. Often used on lighter weight pieces such as curtains.