| Description |
Ensuring solidarity and collective identity, national and religious holidays, celebrations, feasts, commemorations are of great significance as regards to social values. The providers, the distribution and the consumption of the food are strictly determined on these special days. Traditional ceremonial keşkek is one of the social practices which sustain its significance from the past to our present day.
Keşkek tradition is practiced at circumcisions, wedding ceremonies, religious holidays such as, Ramadans, sacrifice Aid, Muharram Month (first month of the Islamic calendar), charities, pilgrimage feast, prayers for the rain, Mevlid (Islamic poetry reading), Hıdrellez (a kind of seasonal celebration) and similar practices.
Preparation and consumption process of keşkek bears a collective character. Particularly in village communities, preparation of ingredients and cooking process of keşkek are actualized through collective work. The villagers contribute to keşkek ceremony by providing the ingredients and participate in cooking process. Wheat and meat are the basic ingredients of keşkek. The main ingredients are provided by the household on special days for the family and the dwellers of the village provide the work force if needed.
The wheat for keşkek, of an amount proportional with the number of participants, is washed with prayers a day before the wedding ceremony. Accompanied by davul-zurna (traditional Turkish musical instruments) the wheat is carried carefully to a large stone mortar.
The wheat is hulled on the large stone mortars by two or four persons using gavels in a fixed rhythm. The rhythmic sound is a sign for the start of wedding ceremony. The hulled wheat is one of the main ingredients of keşkek to be prepared on the wedding morning. Meat is the other main ingredient for keşkek.
Cooking keşkek requires specialized knowledge therefore it is carried out by experienced persons called ""keşkekçi"" (keşkek maker). Keşkekçis are trained in a master-apprentice tradition. Cooks and his assistants in charge of keşkek cooking start the preparations at early hours in the morning of the day before the ceremony.
As weddings - the primary occasions for ceremonial keşkek tradition – are usually held during summer or early autumn, keşkek is usually cooked outdoors. Requiring a long-lasting source of heat, keşkek is cooked in large copper cauldrons, the bottom of which is smeared with ash to protect it before being put on a big open fire. Hulled wheat, chunks of meat on the bone, onions, spices, water and oil are all put together in the cauldron. It is important to maintain the heat at a certain temperature while cooking. Therefore, cook and the assistants take turns to maintain the cooking process as desired until morning. Watching the heat and preparation of the side dishes to be served with keşkek last all night long. This night spent around the keşkek is full of stories, friendly talks and jokes.
The cook checks the keşkek cauldron in the morning of the wedding day. Towards noon, the most important phase of the keşkek tradition takes place. The strongest of the village youth, who were previously chosen for ‘keşkek dövme (keşkek beating)’, are called in to ‘beat’the keşkek with a wooden tool which can be named as ağaç kepçe (wooden ladle) tokmak (gavel), çomça or şişe. This is in a way a mashing process. The rhythm while hulling the wheat goes on during the beating process as well. The wooden tools are used in a rhythmic order. The beating process of keşkek attracts great interest among the crowds. To motivate the beating youth, the crowd cheers and sings folk songs. During the beating, one or two persons apart from the beating youth take the bones out with a special kind of tongs.
The neighboring towns and villages are invited and keşkek is collectively consumed in the ceremony premises (courtyard of mosque for religious holidays, bride’s or groom’s house on wedding days, a sacred venue for charities and hıdrellez). Prayers are uttered before and after the feast. The pots and pans used during ceremony are collectively washed.
A special set of equipments are necessary for the preparation of keşkek. The stone mortar, a collectively owned product of particular craftsmanship, a copper cauldron made especially for such ceremonies and tinned regularly. Hand made ladles and gavels made of wood are among the most important tangible elements of the keşkek tradition.
The most significant aspect of the tradition is unifying all people in this ceremony regardless of age, ethnic origin, gender and culture even being invited or not. The hosts of the ceremony check whether all the guests are at the dining table for keşkek. Each person attending to keşkek ceremony is considered as an element of this cultural environment.
All individuals within the community through participating in such a ceremonial event have a sense of belonging. This ‘sense of belonging’ reflects itself with the common expression ‘our keşkek is better’, which is a bare evidence of considering keşkek as an important element of cultural heritage. Keşkek ceremony should be practiced with all the components of the tradition or else it loses its traditional aspect for the bearers.
In Zonguldak-Ereğli on the west coast of Black sea Region, there is a village named ‘Keşkek’. People from the neighboring villages go to this village, which is a developed locality among the surrounding places, in order to worship on Holy Friday and the visitors are served keşkek there. This clearly explains why the village is called ‘Keşkek’. The villagers see keşkek as a major part of their cultural identity and they are glad to have the name keşkek for their village.
Today, this ceremonial tradition, through organizing keşkek festivals and festivities has been preserved by the intimate efforts of city and district municipalities and the hemşeri (locality fellowship) associations, founded by fellow citizens for creating a kind of solidarity. It is observed in these occasions unifying aspects of ceremonial keşkek tradition continues in the cities as well. Preservation of this tradition in the cities is particularly important in terms of how much this tradition is embraced by the communities concerned. |
| Social and cultural significance |
Followed by a variety of ethnic and religious groups, the tradition can be regarded as a shared element blending diversified cultures with some cultural values, which enables developing social communication and dialogue.
The tradition of ceremonial keşkek has a powerful characteristic as regards to its aspect of oral expression. The expressions used during wheat selection, praying and carrying the wheat as well as preparation and cooking process have become common expressions in daily life. For example, the idiom ‘We after all had the keşkek of this wedding’ means ‘We managed to succeed this with a happy ending’. Another proverb used for the ones, who are blunt and poke their noses in everything, is ‘S/he carries keşkek to hayloft without knowing the way to the wedding house’. The idiom ‘The wheat perfectly hulled and beaten tastes delicious’ means ‘Spending great effort on a work brings the most favorable results’. In some regions, Keşkek is an integral part of wedding ceremonies, thus the single girls and boys are asked ‘When will we eat your keşkek?’ in literal meaning it is ‘Will you marry soon?’. Another expression on keşkek is ‘No wedding is thought without keşkek’. Youth among the keşkek bearers can be seen uttering mani (traditional short Turkish poem) to express their will to marry.
The oral expressions like manis, türküs (folk songs) are also other evident components of intangible cultural heritage and cultural creativity.
Taken from the groom’s house in some regions, the wheat is carried towards the bride’s house by the youth, playing davul-zurna and as usual, the bride’s house adds on the wheat for keşkek. Therefore, this traditional practice symbolically brings the two families closer.
Besides oral expressions, the tradition encompasses ongoing entertainment, plays and music performances. These cultural elements which enrich social dialogue are in close connection with ceremonial keşkek tradition. The zurna players perform their musical pieces during the beating process of wheat by the youth and announce that keşkek has reached the proper thickness with a specific melody. This melody is relatively performed more slowly than the ones played during wheat beating.
Master cooks of keşkek are not only in charge of cooking this ceremonial dish. Those traditionally trained cooks also named as ‘keşkekçi’ can also be described as ‘tradition bearers’, hence they are highly respected persons among the organizers of ceremony and the guests as regards to their role in transmitting this peculiar element and their deep experience. In a way, master cooks of keşkek are role models in terms of transmitting and safeguarding the tradition through training assistant cooks. Cultural transmission is realized through the participation in preparation and consumption processes of people from different age groups. Master cooks transmit the tradition via teaching key points both verbal and applied training. Transmission of the tradition ensures the opportunity to improve solidarity and diminish conflicts between generations by creating dialogue.
The production of main tools of keşkek has similarly been maintained as long as the tradition is safeguarded. Highly esteemed, the stone mortar, made by a specific technique, is a commonly shared good and each individual in the community has responsibility to keep stone mortar clean. The copper cauldrons are durable thanks to their strong structure made of best quality. Those cauldrons, regularly tinned every year are attributed high esteem as similarly the stone mortar. They are carefully conserved until the following ceremonial event. Despite their rather plain look, large ladles made of strong and odorless wood are one of the primary tools of the ceremonial keşkek tradition. Therefore some keşkek masters are known to bring their own wooden ladles and similar tools to the ceremonies. Since the tools used in keşkek (cauldrons, ladles, mixers) are collectively produced by each community, they might show many variations. This practice not only enables the visibility of creative aspects of the community but also constitutes an important contribution to cultural diversity. In our present day, master cooks develop and employ practical tools to beat keşkek.
The motive behind keşkek’s being the major element of communal ceremonial events and dissemination within the country is the collective quality of the element. In this respect, keşkek tradition has an important functional and symbolical meaning in terms of surfacing solidarity and collective identity in the society as well as contributing to cultural transmission.
Preparation of keşkek requires effort from all segments of community which in return enhances consciousness of solidarity. The division of labor in the keşkek tradition includes all individuals in the community as the children, women, men, youth and elderly.
By sharing keşkek virtually with everyone around, the sense of belongingness and trust is created even among the members of the community who cannot physically participate in the ceremonies, such as the handicapped and the very aged. |
| Transmission method |
Cooking keşkek requires specialized knowledge therefore it is carried out by experienced persons called ""keşkekçi"" (keşkek maker). Keşkekçis are trained in a master-apprentice tradition.
Master cooks of keşkek are not only in charge of cooking this ceremonial dish. Those traditionally trained cooks also named as ‘keşkekçi’ can also be described as ‘tradition bearers’, hence they are highly respected persons among the organizers of ceremony and the guests as regards to their role in transmitting this peculiar element and their deep experience. In a way, master cooks of keşkek are role models in terms of transmitting and safeguarding the tradition through training assistant cooks. Cultural transmission is realized through the participation in preparation and consumption processes of people from different age groups. Master cooks transmit the tradition via teaching key points both verbal and applied training.
Today, this ceremonial tradition, through organizing keşkek festivals and festivities has been preserved by the intimate efforts of city and district municipalities and the hemşeri (locality fellowship) associations, founded by fellow citizens for creating a kind of solidarity. It is observed in these occasions unifying aspects of ceremonial keşkek tradition continues in the cities as well. Preservation of this tradition in the cities is particularly important in terms of how much this tradition is embraced by the communities concerned.
Practices in weddings, mevlits, religious and national holidays and festive events are the major elements in maintaining and disseminating keşkek tradition.
Through organizing festivals, celebrations and festivities on keşkek by NGOs and local governments, keşkek tradition is safeguarded, promoted and carried to the urban context. Sustainability of the tradition in these new forms contributes to the safeguarding of ICH in the face of industrialization which dominates the urban life. Keşkek festivals by Çankırı Atkaracalar/Çardaklı Municipality, Cultural Benevolence and Solidarity Association of Çankırı Gündoğmuş Village and Antalya Korkuteli/Bozova Municipality; ‘Traditional Keşkek Festival’ by Development Association of Çankırı Atkaracalar District Susuz Village and Benevolence and Solidarity Association of Kocaeli Gebze Şalpazarlılar; and Keşkek and Yaran Festival by Benevolence and Solidarity Association of Çankırı Kurşunlu/ Yeşilören Village are examples of such new forms.
MoCT subsidizes abovementioned festivals and festivities.
Samples of tools and equipment used in ceremonial keşkek are exhibited - hence preserved - in ethnography museums in Turkey. Moreover the craftsmen are invited to handicraft festivals by MoCT. |
| Community |
Generally; all groups and people from different ages and gender in communities.
Specifically, traditional cooks (cooks of the village, keşkek chefs), assistant cooks, village headman, hosts of the wedding and the organizers of the ceremony, persons who do charity. |
| Type of UNESCO List |
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity |
| Incribed year in UNESCO List |
2011 |
