Across much of Anatolia people say "the girl is still in the cradle, her trousseau already in the chest," a saying that shows how early the preparation of a trousseau begins. In Amasya, too, the first pieces that will one day count as a girl's trousseau start to enter the house when she is born. The preparation stretches over years. Mother, grandmother, aunts and neighbouring women all have a share in the long task, and the girl herself both builds up a store of goods and learns the finer points of housekeeping as she works stitch by stitch. What accumulates in the chest is the product of a labour that begins long before the wedding, and as the wedding approaches this labour turns into an exhibition for everyone to see, through the custom of displaying the trousseau (çeyiz serme) or, as it is called in Taşova, hanging the trousseau (çeyiz asma).

The Concept and Origins of the Trousseau

The word çeyiz comes from the Arabic jihāz. The term denotes the goods, provisions and equipment needed by a traveller, a bride or an army setting out on campaign. In Turkish it settled into the forms çehiz and çeyiz and was used for the clothing and household goods a bride takes from her father's house. In Islamic law, furnishing the new home falls within the husband's obligation of maintenance, so a bride is under no religious duty to bring goods into her husband's house. The trousseau practice is the product of social structure more than of religious rule, and, as the encyclopedia entry stresses, it is a custom that should not slide into extravagance. The Prophet's gift to his daughter Fatima at her marriage, a bed, a pillow and a waterskin, is cited as an example of moderation.

In the Seljuk and Ottoman periods the custom of the trousseau in Anatolia varied slightly from region to region but remained the same in essence. In the Seljuk trousseau handwork such as embroidery and lace came first, and copper vessels were preferred for the kitchen. Every bride had a trousseau chest in which she kept her personal belongings. It was also customary to place a lock of the weaver's hair, a few evil-eye beads or a scrap cut from a valuable dress in a corner of a rug woven for the trousseau. At palace weddings the trousseau was loaded onto mules and carts and paraded before the public. In 1675 the trousseau of Hatice Sultan, daughter of Mehmed IV, was carried by eighty-six mules, and foreign travellers who were in Edirne at the time marvelled at the procession. The Amasya trousseau prepared in a village house is far from this splendour; even so, it is the plain, labour-based form of the same idea, the showing of what the bride will take to her new home under the eyes of her community.

Preparing the Trousseau in Amasya

In the region, the preparation of a girl's trousseau generally begins at an early age. Mother, father and relatives prepare handmade embroideries, laces, knitted pieces and various household textiles. Quilts, pillows, sheets, towels, kitchen utensils, clothing and jewellery are the principal parts of the trousseau. Embroidery, needle lace (oya) and crochet lace are learned during this process, so that preparing a trousseau becomes part of the household economy and a kind of apprenticeship at once. In Amasya the great majority of a girl's trousseau consists of handwork, and how varied it will be depends on the economic standing of the family.

The part of the trousseau considered with most care is the bridal bed. Great attention is paid to preparing the bride's bed, quilt and pillow, and the bridal mattress or quilt is sewn by the most trusted people. This detail shows that the bedding holds a separate place within the trousseau and is entrusted to the hands that are most trusted.

Customs documented elsewhere in Anatolia help us understand the social ground on which preparation in Amasya rests. According to collections made around Bergama, when a girl is born neighbours and relatives bring trousseau cloths, scarves and even lace sideboard sets, and as the child grows relatives begin buying even small electrical appliances for her trousseau. This process, based on mutual help, is the counterpart in marriage preparation of the tradition of communal work (imece). Although it is known that in Amasya relatives join the mother and father in preparing the trousseau, no region-specific practice of birth gifts has been documented.

The Trousseau Chest

The most important item of the trousseau is the chest, in which the trousseau accumulates. Because the chest will stand closed for many years, it must be made of a material that protects the contents from staining and moths. Turkish trousseau chests are mostly made from sturdy woods such as walnut, cedar and pine, and some examples are decorated with carving and inlay. Depending on the bride's family, one or several chests were taken along. It is said that a woman from a wealthy family went with three, the daughter of a middling family with two, and the daughter of a more modest family with one. There is no comprehensive inventory of Amasya chests, and in the region a chest is remembered less for its ornament than for the handwork inside and for the years it has held.

The beliefs recorded in Anatolia about the first items placed in the chest are these: underwear so that the house may be full, a shirt so that she may prosper, a tablecloth so that her table may always be laid, alum so that the evil eye may not strike. Because stains appearing on the goods in a chest were believed to come from Satan, black cumin, oleaster, scissors or a knife were also put in to keep him away. It has also been recorded that matches were placed in the chest so that the bride could light a hearth wherever she went, and yeast so that she might take root. There is no firm documentation of how widespread these practices were in Amasya, but they are known as elements of the general trousseau tradition.

The chest also has a symbolic function in Amasya wedding custom. When the bride's collectors arrive at the door, the young girls refuse to open it in order to extract a tip and sit on the bride's chest. Once the wedding steward has paid the tips, the doors are opened and the trousseau is carried out. After the bride has entered the new house, she is seated on her own trousseau chest facing the qibla, and one collection notes that a baby boy is placed in her lap at this point. The bride offers sweets to her mother-in-law, her sisters-in-law and those present. In this way the chest becomes the first place where she sits in her new home.

In a practice recorded in the Alpaslan township of Taşova, the trousseau chest is sent to the bride's house together with provisions and gifts bought for the bride, on the Friday before the wedding begins, by vehicle and accompanied by drum and zurna; this custom is called "aşboğaz" or "seysana". This example, in which the chest travels from the groom's house to the bride's, shows that the chest has a role in the joint preparation of the two houses.

In the practice known as "writing the trousseau" (çeyiz yazma), described as a general custom, the trousseau was listed with its values at a gathering attended by neighbours, the muhtar and village notables before it left the bride's house, and it was signed and sealed in front of witnesses by the relatives of the bride and groom. The practice aimed to protect the woman's rights in case of divorce. In other sources the same name is used for the custom of touring the goods displayed in the bridal room during the wedding. Whether written trousseau registers were kept in Amasya villages is not stated in the sources.

Regional Weaving and Handwork

The weaving and embroidery part of an Amasya trousseau is closely tied to the region's crafts. Needle lace (iğne oyası) is the main decorative technique used on headscarves, collar flowers, handkerchiefs, scarves and coin purses. Yassıçal cloth (çuha), said to have a history of 250 years in Yassıçal village in the central district, is made by winding thread dyed with natural dyes onto shuttles with a spool and a spinning wheel and weaving it on a loom. Used for clothing, sheets and covers, this cloth has motifs known as "Eminem", "Süleyman", "Mehmet Dede", "sinekli" (fly pattern) and "tekke peşkiri" (lodge towel). The Eminem motif expresses a mother's longing for her child, and the Süleyman motif expresses determination.

Gediksaray weaving, which women once wove in Gediksaray village in Göynücek, is made from one hundred per cent cotton cloth, and its motifs include patterns such as the mountains of Amasya and "tahtalı". According to the master instructors, these motifs used to appear in the trousseau chests of young girls. These two weavings, which women wove on looms and kept in chests, are regarded as a heritage passed from mothers to daughters. To keep Yassıçal cloth alive, a course was opened in Yassıçal village in 2006 by the Public Education Centre on the initiative of the Amasya Governorship, and idle looms were overhauled and copies made. Master instructors emerged from the trainees whom Yüksel Kanar taught for a year, and more than seventy women have earned an income from the work. Both weavings were registered with a geographical indication in February 2025.

The bundle-cloths (bohça) that come out of trousseau chests also show Amasya's memory of handwork. The Amasya Olgunlaşma Institute opened the exhibition "Heritage in the Chest: Amasya Bohças" within the International Amasya Atatürk Culture and Art Festival in June 2026. Through the institute's field research, 48 original bohças were identified in families in Amasya's centre and districts, in old trousseau chests and in private collections, and brought together. The bohças were examined one by one for their technical features, uses and cultural functions, and examples belonging to the turning points of life such as betrothal promise, engagement, marriage, military service, birth and religious festivals were shown together.

Gift Customs Between Engagement and Wedding

In Amasya the trousseau has a place not only in the room where it is prepared but also in the exchange of gifts between engagement and wedding. In Kayabaşı village, a week after the engagement the bride's side prepares a bohça of gifts, consisting of pyjamas, slippers, underwear, dress fabric for the mother-in-law and shirts for the groom-to-be and the household, and sends it to the groom's house; this is called "sending the ring" or "sending the bohça". The groom's side in turn sends the bride clothing, underwear and shoes at festivals and on Hıdırellez between engagement and wedding, and at the Feast of the Sacrifice a decorated sacrificial ram and a gold bracelet are added.

Among these gift customs there are also some close to the idea of hanging on a rope. In Eraslan township, in some places on Hıdırellez the bride and her relatives are taken to the Gani Baba Tomb, a rope is hung inside the tomb and the gifts that are brought are fastened to it. In Akören village in Merzifon, in cherry season the groom's house prepares a basket of seasonal fruit and attaches a gold coin beside it, and the bride's house makes ready for this meeting called "bride's cherries". A rope is stretched across the room and the gifts brought by the guests are hung on it. Displaying a gift before everyone by hanging it on a rope is close to the idea behind çeyiz asma.

Carrying the Trousseau to the Groom's House and Displaying It

The trousseau that the bride's family has worked on and prepared for years is brought to the groom's house a few days before the wedding. The bride-to-be comes with her close friends and spreads the trousseau out in a room set aside for her at the groom's house. The groom's house offers food and tea to those who come to see the trousseau. The room can be visited throughout the wedding. The trousseau is usually carried by young men and male relatives, with chests and other goods transported by vehicle. It is also said that the spreading of the trousseau takes place at the groom's house the day before the wedding or on the wedding morning. The goods are displayed in a room or in the courtyard: bedroom sets are laid over the beds, other textiles are carefully folded or hung, and kitchen goods are arranged in order.

Women mostly take part in the ceremony. The bride's mother, sisters, maternal and paternal aunts and neighbouring women come to see the trousseau, and the quality, workmanship and quantity of the goods are discussed. The aim is to praise and appreciate the bride and her family. Guests are offered refreshments, and those who come to see the trousseau may bring small gifts for the bride or groom. After the display the bride and groom also come to see the trousseau, and the bride proudly shows the pieces she has worked herself. In many parts of Anatolia, when a trousseau is not liked people say "her daughter has grown up, her mother has been asleep", and when it is admired, "her daughter has studied, her mother has woven", which shows that the display is also a social assessment. Visitors bringing gifts such as plates, trays, headscarves, cushions or prayer rugs is a practice documented around Bergama.

The trousseau display shows the bride's family's means and skill and gives relatives and neighbours the chance to know the bride and her family. The appreciation shown for each piece displayed expresses respect for the bride's labour, and on this occasion the two families also see one another and their wider circle of kin.

Hanging the Trousseau in Taşova

In Amasya çeyiz asma is associated especially with the district of Taşova. In this practice the trousseau prepared by the bride is displayed hung on ropes, and the display may last several days. Young girls take their handmade trousseaus out of their chests and present them in a room of their houses for the villagers' admiration. Çeyiz asma had largely stopped being practised in recent years and was on the verge of being forgotten; in September 2024 it was revived in Gemibükü village, attached to Taşova.

That weekend Eylem Yasemin Koçak, aged 26, who was about to marry Ferhat Güney, displayed the trousseau she had been preparing for years in a room of her house. Koçak said that as a child she used to go to see the trousseaus at the houses of her older sisters when they married, and that she would say, "One day when I become a bride I will hang my trousseau too." She said that bringing her trousseau to that state, stitch by stitch, had taken ten years, that it consisted of about 500 pieces, and that with her friends and siblings she had hung it and offered it to the villagers' attention for four days. Her friend Burcu Orman said that preparing the room had taken days, that they hung the pieces again and again until they were satisfied, and that with each pin they placed they were embroidering the bride's dreams.

The bride's grandmother Nafiye Koçak said that the tradition used to be more widespread but that many women could not carry it out because they had no trousseau. She had given her 60-year-old chest, which was brought to her at her own wedding, to her granddaughter as a wedding present. In this example a chest passed between two generations, and the hanging of the trousseau was done again with work taken out of that chest.

The çeyiz asma in Taşova and the trousseau display recorded for the region as a whole differ at a few points. In one, the trousseau stays hung in the bride's own house for several days and villagers come to visit. In the other, the trousseau is carried to the groom's house a few days before the wedding and spread out in a room set aside for the bride. That both forms are mentioned in the same region suggests the custom could vary from village to village and even from family to family, though there is no field collection sufficient to make a firm district-by-district distinction.

The Social Meaning and Present of the Trousseau

The trousseau was also an indicator of the bride's family's economic standing. In some regions livestock, fields, gardens, a house and, until the early twentieth century in wealthy families, even a servant could be among the trousseau items. In southeastern Anatolia the bride's side had to provide a bedroom set; in Hatay the bride's side prepared a trousseau equal to the bride-price it had received from the groom's side; in Sivas and Niğde the whole trousseau was called "kalın". In Amasya the greater part of the trousseau is handwork, and its variety depends on the family's means. A displayed trousseau earns the family esteem because it shows the girl's family's patience, the women's skill and the family's means.

Today the display of the trousseau continues, although it has undergone some changes. The share of ready-made goods and modern household textiles in the trousseau has grown and ceremonies have become simpler. In big cities the bride's side mostly buys the bedroom and kitchen goods and the groom's side the living-room and sitting-room sets. Some families remain loyal to traditional practice, and handmade covers, laces and bohças are still kept in chests. The revival in Taşova and the bohças that the Olgunlaşma Institute has brought out of chests show that this accumulated legacy has begun to be seen as a heritage to be documented and passed on.

The tradition of the trousseau and its display serves the continuation of handicrafts such as lace, embroidery and needle lace, of communal solidarity, of carved and inlaid wooden chest making, and of the music and dance elements kept alive during the display of the trousseau and the carrying out of the chest. In Amasya the quilt cover, embroidered headscarf or piece of çuha inside a chest carries the mark of the woman who made it and of the environment in which she grew up.

Chronology

1675: The trousseau of Hatice Sultan, daughter of Mehmed IV, was carried through Edirne by eighty-six mules.

2006: A course in Yassıçal cloth weaving was opened in Yassıçal village.

September 2024: The custom of hanging the trousseau was revived in Gemibükü village, Taşova.

February 2025: Yassıçal cloth and Gediksaray weaving were registered with a geographical indication.

12-22 June 2026: The exhibition "Heritage in the Chest: Amasya Bohças" was opened within the Amasya Atatürk Culture and Art Festival.

Sources

Official sources

  • Kültür Portalı, "Amasya Evlilik Gelenekleri" (Kültür Atlası, Gelenekler-Görenekler). kulturportali.gov.tr
  • Kültür Portalı, "Amasya Düğün Öncesi Hazırlıkları ve Düğün" (Kültür Atlası, Gelenekler-Görenekler). kulturportali.gov.tr
  • İHA, "Amasya'nın Yassıçal çuha ve Gediksaray dokumalarına coğrafi işaret", 26 February 2025.

Other sources

  • Anadolu Ajansı, "Amasya'da gelinlerin çeyiz asma geleneği yaşatılıyor", Tevfik Öztürk, 4 September 2024. aa.com.tr
  • TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "Çeyiz" entry. islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
  • Bergama Alan Başkanlığı, "Çeyiz ve Çeyiz Serme", 26 December 2022. unesco.bergama.bel.tr
  • Hürriyet, "Çeyiz sandığı geleneği nedir? İşte geçmişten günümüze çeyiz geleneği", 6 January 2021.
  • Objektif Amasya, "Amasya'da Çeyiz Sandıkları Açıldı: Sandıktaki Miras Sergisi Yoğun İlgi Gördü", 17 June 2026.

Online sources