The hamam, one of the indispensable institutions of Ottoman urban life, was never simply a place to get clean in Amasya; it was a meeting place where conversation and ceremony mingled with the steam. In the centuries when houses had nothing more than a small ablution closet (gusülhane) for washing, neighbourhood and market baths were places that people of every age visited regularly. The city on the banks of the Yeşilırmak still preserves, in its baths surviving from the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, some of the most deeply rooted examples of this culture in Anatolia. The most colourful side of the hamam, however, appeared on the women's bath days and in the ceremony held for a bride before her wedding; the first step of a young woman's departure from her father's house was very often taken beside the heated central platform, the göbek taşı.

The Historical Background of the Hamam in Amasya

Traces of bathing culture in Amasya go back much further than the Turkish era. In the village of Ilısu, in the district of Göynücek, the remains of a Roman bath built over a spring and dated to the 3rd century AD still stand. According to the villagers, this spot with its water flowing warm all year round was used until recent times both as a bride's bath and as a groom's bath, and later became a place where women washed laundry and children went into the water. Researchers have also suggested, as a possibility, that the foundations of the two baths surviving from the Kızlar Sarayı (Maidens' Palace) at the foot of the city's citadel may reach back to the Hellenistic period, taking into account the traces of old water channels descending from the castle.

With Turkish rule the hamam became part of the same system of pious endowments (waqf) as the mosque, the madrasa and the public kitchen (imaret). Baths were often built to provide revenue for a mosque complex (külliye), and their income was spent on the expenses of the mosque, the madrasa or the kitchen. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Amasya is known to have had fifteen baths alongside nine mosques, ten madrasas, four zawiyas and six public kitchens. Relative to the size of the city's population, this figure shows how large a place the hamam occupied in daily life. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when Amasya flourished as a princely sanjak, are the period in which most of the city's baths still standing today were built.

The Historic Baths of the City

Mustafa Bey Hamamı

Located in the Mehmet Paşa quarter, north of the Bimarhane (the old hospital), the Mustafa Bey Hamamı was built in 1436 by Mustafa Bey, son of Yörgüç Paşa, the lala (tutor-guardian) of Murad II. In keeping with the classical Ottoman bath layout, it consists of a cold section, a warm section and a hot section; around the hot room are the small private washing cells known as halvet. Large niches can be seen in the walls of the square-plan changing hall. The niches of the cold section carry muqarnas and the space is covered by a dome. The hot room is a domed space surrounded on four sides by four large niches. Rubble stone and brick were used together in the main walls, and the bath is entered through a segmental-arched doorway set within a marble frame.

Describing how changing halls with very large domes were built in the early Ottoman period, Semavi Eyice lists the Mustafa Bey Hamamı of Yörgüç Paşa's son in Amasya among the examples with dome diameters of between 10 and 15 metres, together with baths in Gelibolu, Bursa and Edirne. This measurement indicates that the bath was one of the city's leading buildings at the time of its construction. The Mustafa Bey Hamamı is still among the baths in operation today.

Kumacık Hamamı

The Kumacık Hamamı, in the Bayezidpaşa quarter opposite the Künç Bridge, was built in 1495 by the Kapıağası (chief of the palace gate eunuchs) Ayas Ağa. The endowment register of Ayas Ağa's complex shows that the bath was built on a plot of land purchased separately so as to bring income to the complex. Built of rubble stone, the bath has a square-plan changing hall covered by a large dome resting on Turkish triangles, and its domes are covered externally with Turkish-style roof tiles. In its present state it has a flat-ceilinged warm section in the form of a narrow corridor and a hot room with four iwans and private cells in its corners. The number of these cells is given as two in some sources and three in others. The building underwent alterations in all three of its sections after its initial construction and has come down to us in a form that differs from the original in both plan and appearance. The Kumacık Hamamı is likewise among the city's baths still in service; the towels handed to customers, laid out in rows in the changing hall, are among the surviving details of the old bath routine.

Yıldız Hamamı

The Yıldız Hamamı, also known as the Çukur Hamam (Sunken Bath) or the Hatuniye Hamamı, is part of the Hatuniye Complex built by Bülbül Hatun, wife of Bayezid II, and completed in 1510. A bath is known to have stood on the same site in the Seljuk period, and it is considered highly probable that the present building was rebuilt on top of this older bath. Tradition holds that it came to be called the Sunken Bath because of the low level on which it stands. The square-plan bath is covered by a dome with a lantern; it consists of a domed changing hall, a cold section to its south, toilets to the east, and to the west the hot room and the furnace (külhan) where the water was heated.

The Altuntaş Hamamı and the Baths of the Kızlar Sarayı

The Altuntaş Hamamı, near the Madenüs Bridge in the Hatuniye quarter, is also known as the Yukarı Hamam (Upper Bath). Built of dressed stone, rubble stone and mortar, it consists of cold, warm and hot sections and a furnace, and is roofed with domes and vaults. Since it has no construction inscription its exact date is unknown, but it is thought to be a seventeenth-century Ottoman bath.

Of the Kızlar Sarayı, also known by names such as the King's Palace, the Enderun Palace, the Lower Palace and the Isfendiyar Palace, only two baths have survived. As neither carries an inscription, the date of construction and the patron of both are unknown. The Small Bath is dated on architectural grounds to the fifteenth century; its coloured plaster mouldings, executed in the malakârî technique, show that it was a showy building in its original period. Instead of underfloor heating, this bath used a system in which hot steam was circulated through the main walls, which places it among the private baths found in palaces, castles and pavilions. Alongside the Small Bath, which has been out of use for the last two and a half centuries, stands the Great Bath, which has preserved its original structure better, with its cold room, warm room, hot room, furnace and water tank. Bearing in mind the crowds that come to see the rock tombs, researchers have proposed that this building could be converted into a bath museum.

Baths in the Districts

The hamam did not remain an institution confined to the provincial centre; it spread to the districts and small towns as well. A double bath dated 1473-74 is known to have existed in Merzifon. The complex built between 1666 and 1679 by the grand vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa included two baths. One of these, the Paşa Hamamı, is dated to 1678 and, with its domed changing hall, its long rectangular cold room and its domed hot room resting on an octagonal drum, is regarded as a fine example of Ottoman bath architecture. The Tuzpazarı Hamamı in Merzifon is dated 1676. In Uluköy, known in the past as Sonisa, in the district of Taşova, the single bath built by Lala Sinan Paşa still stands intact; although it carries no inscription, the paşa's endowment deed of 1526 shows that it was built shortly before that date. A register of 1530 records six quarters, two mosques and one bath in the district of Sonisa. In Gümüşhacıköy, the Millet Hamamı, thought to have been built around 1820, is popularly known as the Armenian Bath. Although its high domes were demolished around 1965 and replaced by reinforced-concrete domes, it retains its old arrangement, with its cool, warm and hot sections, its central platform and its four rooms. The Gümüş Maden Hamamı, built in the same years, also survives in its original form in the district.

How the Hamam Worked and Who Served There

The oldest Turkish word for the bath is munça or munçak, and in some parts of Anatolia the hamam is still called "sıcak" (the warm place), from the word ısıcak. Ottoman cities had two kinds of bath. Buildings with two sections serving men and women separately were called double baths (çifte hamam), and the door of the women's section usually opened onto a side street. Single baths were reserved for women during the day and for men at night. Baths in residential quarters that served only women were sometimes called "avret hamamı", while those for men in the market were called "rical hamamı". In Gümüşhacıköy, it is said, the colour of the towel hung on the outer door showed whether the bath was reserved that day for women or for men.

In the men's bath the attendant who washed the customers was called the tellâk, and in the women's bath the nâtır. Among the nâtırs were the "ana" (mothers), who looked after particular customers, and the "usta" (masters), who carried out tasks requiring special skill. The other servants of the bath were the stoker who fed the furnace, the attendant who handed out the peştamal (bath wrap), the coffee-maker, and the laundrymen who washed the towels and dried them on wooden frames set over braziers. Evliya Çelebi writes that the bath-keepers, the tellâks and the nâtırs each had their own patron saint. The running of the baths was supervised by the qadi courts; employees were held as guarantors for one another, and fees and the rules to be observed were laid down in regulations. Bathing, too, had its proper order. One first sweated in the hot room, the dirt was "drawn off" by the scrubbing mitt of the nâtır or tellâk, then one washed, rested afterwards in the cold room, drank coffee and left a tip.

The Women's Bath Day

For women in particular, the hamam was a precious place where they could leave the house, share their troubles and see those they missed. It is said that the bath was the most important place of entertainment for the women of middle-class families, and that a distinctive bath culture therefore grew up around the women's baths. Neighbours and relatives were told in advance of the days on which the bath would be visited; stuffed vine leaves, börek pastries and breads were prepared, and the women set out in large groups. With baskets of food prepared since the morning, clean linen and silver or copper bath bowls, they often spent the whole day in the hamam. The food they brought was eaten at midday on the central platform, while the company enjoyed itself at the same time.

On the central platform one sweated, and while being scrubbed and washed the women discussed the news of the neighbourhood and their laughter mixed with the steam. On crowded days it was not easy to wait one's turn at the basin; the old people of Gümüşhacıköy remember that the order of turns at the platform and the basins, called "keşik", frequently led to quarrels among the women. In the days of arranged marriages the hamam was also a place of observation for mothers. Women looking for a bride for a son of marriageable age would watch the young girls in the bath out of the corner of their eye, weighing their manners and the care they showed for cleanliness and for their elders. Girls who were to become brides, aware of this, tried to make a good impression on prospective mothers-in-law. In this way many acquaintances, and the matchmaking that followed, began in the gatherings of the bath.

The water of some baths, especially those endowed by scholars and sheikhs or located in quarters near the tomb of a saint, was believed to have healing powers. The belief that the water of the Roman bath at Ilısu is good for skin diseases also survives in the village today. For men there were set times to visit the bath: Thursday evenings, Friday mornings, and the eves of Ramadan and the religious festivals. In Gümüşhacıköy it was a weekly habit for fathers to take their children with them on Sundays and go to the bath as a family.

The Bath Bundle and Its Contents

Women carried their bath things wrapped in an embroidered cloth known as the "hamam bohçası" (bath bundle). The peştamal, a set of towels, the bath bowl and wooden clogs were its essentials. To these were added soap, a scrubbing mitt, a loofah, an ivory or bone comb, a soap box and the kildan, the small container in which clay was carried. Towels were used in three pieces, for the waist, the back and the head, and in well-to-do families they were decorated with gold-thread embroidery and needle lace. Clogs made of walnut, boxwood, ebony or sandalwood were inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell, and bath bowls were worked with embossed and engraved motifs. The richness of the bundle and its contents also displayed a woman's family standing to the other women in the bath.

The bride's bundle was the most ornate of all. According to Ahmet Başkan of Amasya University, the bundle for the bride's bath contained a bath bowl, soap, decorated clogs, a silk peştamal for the bride, a sequinned lace-edged muslin called "hamam beyazı" (bath white), a scrubbing mitt, two small bundles for clean and soiled linen, a bath spread, and separate towels for the head, body and legs. To these was added a square woven cloth called the "keyfiye", placed only on the bride's shoulder to distinguish her from the other girls. The bride's bundle was made of cotton or silk and heavily worked with gold and silver thread and sequins, and it was often among the most carefully made pieces of the trousseau. In the women's bath, one of the basins was also more richly and carefully carved than the others; this was called the "gelin kurnası" (bride's basin).

The Bride's Bath Ceremony

Preparations and Invitations

The most joyful expression of bath culture was the bride's bath (gelin hamamı) held before the wedding. According to the practice common in Ottoman cities, the girl who was to marry was taken to the bride's bath two days before the wedding, usually on a Tuesday, and the women of both the bride's and the groom's families, close relatives and friends were invited. The bath was hired outright by the bride's family, or the bride's family paid the fees of the guests. Because in many parts of Anatolia it was associated with the henna night, the bride's bath was also called the "kına hamamı" (henna bath). Preparations began days in advance; dishes such as stuffed vine leaves, börek and baklava were made, and fruit, nuts and sherbet were made ready. Invitations were delivered by women known as "okuyucu" (inviters) who went from door to door, and in some places those invited were given a scented soap.

In Amasya and its surroundings, the wedding calendar also determined the place of the bride's bath. In the region the henna night was held on Saturday evening at the bride's house, and the bride was fetched from her father's house on Sunday. Some local accounts relate that the bride's bath was held on the Saturday morning of the wedding week with the bride's friends and relatives, and that a groom's bath was organised that same evening for the groom and his friends; others say that the bride's bath took place before the engagement ceremony. In the village of Akören in Merzifon, the "çufa kınası", henna applied to the bride's hand with stencils bearing plant designs on the day before the engagement, also shows how varied the henna customs of the wedding process were in the region.

The Ceremony in the Bath

On the day of the ceremony the bride entered the bath before the guests and greeted them at the door. The company gathered in the cold room, a sheet was held over the girl's head, and she was led in a circuit around the courtyard of the bath. Then sherbets were drunk, the frame drum (def) and other instruments were played, and mani verses and folk songs were sung. Afterwards the nâtırs took the bride to a private cell, washed her, and brought her back to sit on the central platform. To the accompaniment of folk songs the bride's hair was washed and her henna prepared. As mani verses were sung, henna was applied to the bride and to the other guests, coins were scattered over the bride's head, and the young girls scrambled for them so that their own fortunes in marriage would open.

The bundles that had been brought were opened, sweets, börek and fruit were shared beside the basins, and meanwhile the older women gave the bride advice about married life. Field studies carried out in neighbouring Sivas have recorded that the bride was seated on an upturned copper bath cauldron as a sign of the esteem in which she was held, and that each of the guests poured a bowl of water over her head. At the end of the ceremony the bride kissed the hands of her elders in the cold room and left the bath last, together with her friends. In the old days this ceremony was also important for bringing the bride and her mother-in-law together and for establishing closeness between the bride and the family she was joining. This gathering, which celebrated the passage from the bride's family home to her husband's, was both a purification and a warm farewell given to the young woman among the women.

Records from Amasya and Its Surroundings

In the village of Ilısu in Göynücek, the water of the Roman bath lives on in the memory of the village elders together with the bride's bath. Seventy-five-year-old Sakine Çoban describes it in her own words: "It was the bride's bath; the brides bathed here, the men bathed here, and they dressed her in the courtyard of the mosque." This brief testimony shows that in towns and villages without a market bath, the bride's bath was also held at thermal springs and natural springs, and that after washing the bride was dressed and adorned in the mosque courtyard. In Gümüşhacıköy too, the bride's bath for girls about to marry, the groom's bath for men, the forty-day bath for new mothers and the soldier's bath for young men leaving for military service are remembered among the customs that continued until recently.

The Groom's Bath and the Fifteenth-Day Bath

The bride's bath had a counterpart among men as well. Before the wedding the groom and his friends gathered for the "güvey hamamı" or groom's bath, where they bathed and enjoyed themselves and the groom was given advice on married life. In some regions an "on beş hamamı" (fifteenth-day bath) was held for the bride and her relatives fifteen days after the wedding night. In the Sivas area, at this second bath, held a few days or fifteen days after the wedding at the expense of the groom's family, the bride helped her mother-in-law to wash, combed her hair and received her blessing in return. In this way the hamam also became the stage on which the bride was accepted into her new family.

The Hamam at Life's Other Thresholds

Apart from weddings, the hamam was also the setting for ceremonies at other turning points in life. New mothers were taken to the bath on the fortieth day after giving birth, and a "kırk hamamı" (forty-day bath) was held, to which relatives and neighbours were invited, the midwife first among them. Depending on the standing of the host, these gatherings could be lavish, almost resembling a wedding. The baby was washed with forty bowls of water while prayers were recited, in a practice called "kırklama", and black cumin was burned as incense against the evil eye. A soldier's bath for young men leaving for military service, a circumcision bath before circumcision feasts and a mourning bath after a funeral were also part of this tradition. Each of them carried the meaning of a ceremonial purification before or after an important event.

The place of the hamam in daily life is reflected in the language as well. Sayings such as "Like a bath dome, it echoes every sound", "Guests are not entertained with bath water", "At the bath he dislikes the basin, at the wedding he dislikes the zurna", "In the bath one's basin, at the wedding one's seat is fixed" and "the same old bath, the same old bowl" often mention the bath and the wedding side by side. Divan poets wrote poems on the bath known as "hammâmiyye", while in folk songs and mani verses the hamam appears above all as a place where the beloved goes.

Amasya's Baths Today

With the arrival of bathrooms in houses and of running water in every home, the everyday function of the baths declined considerably. Nevertheless, some of Amasya's historic baths are still in operation. The Mustafa Bey, Kumacık, Altuntaş and Yıldız baths in the provincial centre and the Paşa Hamamı in Merzifon are counted among the buildings still in service. When the Millet Hamamı in Gümüşhacıköy reopened after five months of restoration, soap was handed out to women and the bath served free of charge during the daytime for three days. The baths of the Kızlar Sarayı, on the other hand, have long been out of use, and proposals are being developed for their conservation and for giving them a new function.

The bride's bath has not disappeared altogether either, and in recent years it has begun to regain popularity. Many baths today offer special arrangements for the bride's bath and give participants ready-made bundles of peştamal, towel, scrubbing mitt and henna materials. Once important for bringing bride and mother-in-law together and for building solidarity between the bride and her new family, the ceremony is today experienced mostly as a celebration. Though its form has changed, the folk songs sung beside the basins, the henna applied and the water poured over the bride's head still carry the traces of a tradition that lives on in Amasya's centuries-old baths.

Chronology

3rd century AD: Period in which the Roman bath built over the spring at Ilısu in Göynücek was constructed.

1436: Mustafa Bey, son of Yörgüç Paşa, had the Mustafa Bey Hamamı built.

1473-74: Date of the double bath in Merzifon.

1495: The Kapıağası Ayas Ağa had the Kumacık Hamamı built to provide income for his complex.

1510: Completion of Bülbül Hatun's Hatuniye Complex and the Yıldız Hamamı belonging to it.

Early 16th century: The city of Amasya had fifteen baths.

1526: Lala Sinan Paşa's endowment deed, which also covers the bath at Sonisa (Uluköy), was drawn up.

1530: A financial register recorded one bath in the district of Sonisa.

1676: The Tuzpazarı Hamamı was built in Merzifon.

1678: Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa's Paşa Hamamı was built.

17th century (estimated): The Altuntaş (Yukarı) Hamamı was built.

1820 (estimated): The Millet (Armenian) Hamamı in Gümüşhacıköy was built.

Around 1965: The high domes of the Millet Hamamı were demolished and replaced with reinforced-concrete domes.

Bibliography

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