TURKEY: WOMEN WEAR TRADITIONAL TATTOOS DEPICTING THEIR STATUS AND HOPES .

Record ID: 779654

  • Title: TURKEY: WOMEN WEAR TRADITIONAL TATTOOS DEPICTING THEIR STATUS AND HOPES .
  • Date: 25th March 2001
  • Summary: URFA, TURKEY (MARCH 25, 2001) (REUTERS) VILLAGE OF URFA WOMEN WITH TATTOOS; TATTOOS ON WOMEN'S FACE AND HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) WOMAN WITH TATTOOS, SEMSE ALPTEKIN SAYING: "You mix the mother's milk with the soot, and this mixture is injected into the skin with a nail. And then we wait for it to dry over a few days." FAKE TATTOO ON A WOMAN'S FACE (SOUNDBITE) (Turkis
  • Embargoed: 9th April 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: URFA, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Arts,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA9RRP9ZK9CIFAPW0F7HJPPGLR0
  • Story Text: While tattoos express the spirit of rebellion for many in the West, in southeastern Turkey women have traditional tattoos depicting their hopes, marital status and beliefs.
    In the villages of the Harran plain in southeastern Turkey, among the fields of cotton and wheat, having tattoos is a tradition for women.
    Tattoos are used to depict a variety of things from the marital status of a woman to her hopes for prosperity and good fortune.
    Soot mixed with mother's milk is scratched into the skin with a nail, and left for two days to allow the tattoo to stabilise.
    Master tattooist Semse Alptekin, who has many tattoos herself uses traditional methods of dying the skin: "We mix mother's milk with soot and scratch it into the skin with nails," she says.
    Dots forming a triangle on the cheeks represent the wish for prosperity, but their meaning changes if they are on the forehead. Dots on the forehead indicate the woman is unmarried.
    Tattoos on the hands are often figures of the social status of the woman's family. Dots behind the ring finger show the number of brothers, and points behind the little finger show the number of sisters.
    Nukhet Hizar, who grew in Harran and now lives in the southeastern city of Urfa, describes the meanings behind tattoos. "All tattoos have special meanings," she says.
    Despite the long traditional in the region, both Islam and development in the region, young women now prefer fake tattoos to the real thing.
    "In the very early times, this was a part of the Bedouin culture, a tradition of this culture. But as there is no place in our religion of Islam, there is no interest in this tattoo culture," says Nukhet Hizar.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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