Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Social life and customs
Madame Zia Bey, her sister-in-law and two other young ladies who were
helping the hostess to serve, were the only ones who did not have the
“charshaf”--all the other ladies wore this most becoming headgear which
is made of the same material as the dress and fits tightly around the
head, while its two flowing ends, which enclose the shoulders when the
ladies are in the street, hang loosely behind them when they are in the
house. Over the head a flimsy veil--generally some precious lace--is
thrown backwards at a rakish angle and frames the face, which remains
entirely uncovered, in a softening cloud. After serving us with some
tea and cakes, Madame Zia Bey passed us on to her husband who, one
by one as the occasion arose, introduced us to the guests. Later the
introductions were finished by Madame Zia Bey who joined us after she
had served all her guests at the tea-table.
We were glad to see a few of our friends from Prinkipo and the
Bosphorus but the majority of the guests were, of course, new to us.
There were two young men, two brothers, who were introduced to us as
the two “tango champions” of the set. I must say that they are very
nice young boys and, despite the fact that they dance most exquisitely,
they are not at all the type of dancing men one meets elsewhere. Their
sister was also there, with her fiancé. I wished that some of my
American friends who absolutely refused to believe that the custom
of arranging marriages between girls and boys who had not previously
met was a thing of the past in Turkey could have seen this couple.
Mademoiselle Rashid Bey and her fiancé had known each other for some
time and their marriage was the result of a genuine romance in which no
outsider had interfered.
There were only two or three foreigners among the guests, and the most
prominent of them was the Japanese Ambassador, who is quite popular in
the social circles of Constantinople. The Italian military attaché was
also present as well as a French officer. A Greek lady whose husband is
one of the very few prominent Greeks who have remained openly faithful
to the cause of Turkey was also there. Needless to say that she and
her husband are very much liked by the Turks who recognize their real
friends and show them true gratitude under all circumstances. The rest
of the crowd was exclusively Turkish, all most attractive and genuinely
refined people who had kept, despite their extreme westernization, the
good manners and the good breeding characteristic of their race.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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