19th C. Turkish Royal Court Debuts

Depiction of a 16th C. Turkish bride being taken to her wedding.

A COURT RECEPTION IN TURKEY

In Europe, social life is diversified by Court receptions, the opera, the theatre, balls, dinner-parties, garden-parties, rides and drives, walks, shopping, church-going, and foreign travel. All these have their counterpart more or less true or grotesque in Turkey. Take first Court receptions. These, it is true, are rare, but they are very magnificent when they do occur. The grandest was that held in 1863 at the fete of the circumcision of Youssouff Izzeddia Effendi. As this was a public occasion, answering to our Court drawing-rooms, the wives and daughters of all the great Pashas were obliged to present their congratulations in person to his Majesty; and, the strictest rule of all Turkish etiquette being for the time superseded by another even more stringent — no woman, whatever her rank, dare veil her face in the presence of the Commander of the Faithful.

I leave it to the imagination of those ladies who have undergone the ordeal of preparing a train and a curtsey for our own Court, what anxious cares were bestowed on ugly green and garnet-colored satin gowns, puffed pantaloons to match, on huge wadded paletots worn over the dress, and on French satin shoes. But, above all, the head-dress was the most difficult to arrange, many of the ladies having short-cropped hair. Everything depends on the set of the hótose or coiffure of colored silk gauze, and on the blaze of the jewels affixed to it; crescents of diamonds, aigrettes of diamonds, sapphires and rubies, pearls almost the size of strawberries, pear shaped diamond ear-rings as large as hazel nuts, or coronets resembling old-fashioned Imperial Crowns. Moreover, the head-dress must be most firmly attached, for, as with us, a Court débutante has to exercise herself in the most graceful manner of bending low before Royalty; there a lady has to practice how she may best advance demurely with a long square train passed between the feet, drop suddenly on her knees, dip her forehead three times to the ground, kiss the hem of the august personage's keurk, or furred robe, if that happens to be worn at the time— and after all this, retreat with good grace, and with out losing her jeweled cap at the feet of her Imperial Sovereign. 

Some of the younger married ladies were courageous enough to adopt the European corsage combined with Turkish train and trousers; but the most authoritative of all were three young khanuns who appeared in white Court dresses made in faultless Parisian style, trimmed with wreaths of white roses gemmed with dew, and very simple coiffures to match. These youthful Princesses looked altogether lovely, and when they advanced up the crowded presentation-chamber, they excited murmurs of admiration; they also saluted the Sultan by a deep courtesy only, he standing; but on passing to where the Validé Sultan was seated near her son, they made to her the customary acknowledgments. His Majesty was evidently much charmed by the grace and dignity of the sisters, and showed them marked attention by insisting that they should be seated— a sign of condescension and respect not extended to any other lady present. The Validé humored her son's whim, saying to the oldest of the young Princesses, while patting her on the shoulder, and motioning her to be seated on the low cushions beside her, “Come, my child, come! Be welcome. Sit beside me.”— Cornhill Magazine, 1876

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The Etiquette Law for Turkish Girls

By 1939, etiquette classes were compulsory in all Turkish schools. Above, the Marmara Mansion in Ankara, Turkey, circa 1931 – photo source, Pinterest

“Go Western, Young Women!” 

is Turkish Urge Under New Law

ANKARA, Turkey, May 9. – A new law entitled “the Readjustment of Gestures” apparently amended by the Ministry of Education, makes courses in etiquette obligatory in all Turkish schools for girls. The Ministry points out that Turkish girls have Westernized their costumes, but still need to be taught how to converse, walk and smile in the Western way. – Associated Press, May 1931

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Global Umbrella Etiquette of Old

“It is a sign of low-breeding to fidget with the hat, cane or parasol during a call. They are introduced merely as signs that the caller is in walking dress, and are not intended, the hat to be whirled round the top of the cane, the cane to be employed in tracing out the pattern of the carpet, or the parasol to be tapped on the teeth, or worse still, sucked.”

Umbrella Etiquette Unique to China, Japan, Turkey, India and the U.S.

In China, ladies were attended by servants who held umbrellas over their heads. The Chinese and Japanese introduced both the umbrella and parasol into their decorative work and athletic sports. And although it may have been raining, no Japanese person was allowed to put up an umbrella while her Majesty was passing by.

In India, the umbrella was the emblem of royalty, the sign of a Rajah. So natives generally folded their umbrellas before a Rajah, and not before anybody else, however great, it was not a part of the dress, but a protection from the rain or sun, a necessary appendage, just like the watch and chain. A coolie was not bound to fold his umbrella when a brigadier general rode past. But a menial generally closed down the umbrella upon seeing his master, whom he considered his “King.” But no Indian, however humble, ought to have folded up the umbrella, even before a magistrate, because he was neither the master of the humble passer-by, nor his superior officer, nor was he bound to salaam him. But if he did, no harm. In a word, natives generally folded the umbrella before a master or a superior officer, and not any other citizen, however great and this was no insult.

In western Turkey, it was necessary to close an umbrella on meeting people of high rank, and a European traveler who was passing one of the Palaces of the Sultan was nearly run through by the guard before he comprehended that he must put down the open umbrella he carried. Every one passing the actual residence of the Sultan lowered his umbrella as a salutation to “the brother of the sun and the moon.” 

And according to Frost’s By-Laws of 1869, an American lady, “When calling, keeps her parasol in her hand, and is not required to remove her glove. It is a sign of low-breeding to fidget with the hat, cane or parasol during a call. They are introduced merely as signs that the caller is in walking dress, and are not intended, the hat to be whirled round the top of the cane, the cane to be employed in tracing out the pattern of the carpet, or the parasol to be tapped on the teeth, or worse still, sucked. No lady will be guilty of the vulgarity of sucking the head of her parasol in the street. To eat anything, even confectionery, in the street, is a sign of low breeding.”

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia  

19th C. Turkish Etiquette

In the past, what was known as Constantinople, is modern day Istanbul. It was the capital of the Ottoman Empire until 1923. 

Etiquette at Constantinople

Court etiquette, degenerating into ease even in Spain, seems still to hold its own at Constantinople. The Paris Journal thinks that the following anecdote of the celebrated pianist Leopold Mayer throws some light upon the hot water into which M. de Vogue, the French Embassador to the Porte, lately fell, it is not easy, according to Mayer, to perform in the Seraglio. You must arrive by 8 o'clock in the morning to perform at 3:00. You must be in full dress. You wait seven hours in a very beautiful gallery, where sitting is forbidden. From time to time you are told what his Highness is doing. " His Highness is just risen." You must prostrate yourself accordingly. "His Highness is going to take the bath." You prostrate yourself again. "His Highness is dressing." Once more you prostrate yourself. ''His Highness is taking coffee," and you prostrate yourself at each of these details of information, and each time more respectfully than before.

At last they bring the piano, but they have removed the legs, in order not to injure the mosaic work of the floor The grand piano is supported on five Turks! The poor fellows are on their knees, bent down and crushed by the enormous weight! But by objecting to play on a piano a cinq Turcs they only think you mean that the instrument is not level. They take a cushion aud place it under the knees of the smallest Turk. They do not suspect that a sentiment of humanity forbids your playing. You are obliged to explain this delicacy of civilization, and the process is long.

At last they place the piano on its real legs, and the Sultan appears. After all sorts of salamaleks, they order you to play. You ask for a chair. There is no chair. It is forbidden to sit in the presence of his Highness. Now a pianist without a chair is in even a more awkward position than an embassador who must not sit down. One must do at Rome what Rome does, and M. de Vogue has been merely taught that the same proverb is true of other places than Rome. But it is clear that a man who cannot stand a great deal — in many senses — is not fitted to be a representative of any kind at Constantinople. -1872

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Turkish Etiquette History Tidbit

Even pupils in the highest forms, “do not know how to greet people, shake hands, take off their hats, what kind of dinner table etiquette they must observe, or how to behave when paying calls.” 

According to a recent report from Istanbul, etiquette is now to be a compulsory subject in all Turkish schools. It appears that even pupils in the highest forms there “do not know how to greet people, shake hands, take off their hats, what kind of dinner table etiquette they must observe, or how to behave when paying calls.” 

Without suggesting that pupils of a similar standing in Western schools, who have the advantage of a long tradition behind them, are altogether young Turks in this respect, one cannot help feeling that they might benefit from an advanced course in etiquette. –Christian Science Monitor, 1939

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Pipes and Proposal Etiquette

The pipe, considered as a matrimonial embassador, has at least this to recommend it— that it may be relied upon to commit no breach of confidence if its mission proves successful.

                 
               Tobacco as a Matchmaker


All the nervousness, embarrassment and febrile excitement attendant upon "popping the question" in highly civilized countries are avoided by the young men of the Tchultau Tatar variety desirous to marry, whose simple and discreet custom it is to ascertain their chances of successor failure in matrimonial enterprise by the following proceeding: The Tchulian Calebs in search of a wife, having filled a brand new pipe with fragrant tobacco, stealthily enters the dwelling of the fair one upon whom he has bestowed his affections, deposits the pipe upon a conspicuous article of furniture, and retires on tiptoe to some convenient hiding place in the neighborhood. 

Local etiquette requires that he should execute this strategic movement apparently undetected by the damsel of his choice or any member of her family. Presently he returns without further affectation of secrecy, and looks into the apartment in a casual sort of way. A single glance at the pipe he left behind him enables him to learn the fate of his proposal. If it has been smoked, he goes forth, an accepted and exulted bridegroom; if not, the offer of his hand and heart has been irrevocably rejected as not even worth a puff of tobacco. 

By this ingenious expedient, the pain and humiliation of verbal refusal and fruitless pleadings are spared to luckless wooers, and Tatar maidens are saved from importunities justly regarded as peculiarly trying to female sensibility. The pipe, considered as a matrimonial embassador, has at least this to recommend it— that it may be relied upon to commit no breach of confidence if its mission proves successful. – 1881

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Etiquette of Turkish Solon

Etiquette of Turkish Solon was"Quite Amusing" 

All Arose When a Member Entered the Chamber

The etiquette of the members of the Turkish chamber almost vies with the politeness of the young Chinese to his prospective father in-law, so amusingly told by Goldsmith.

At the commencement of the new era, either by accident or design, a custom arose that when any member of the house entered all those who were present rose from their seats and made their salaam to the newcomer. Even if a member was addressing the house, a breach in the speech was considered preferable to a breach of courtesy, consequently the orator paused, and the civilities complied with, proceedings resumed.             

The amenities proved themselves a nuisance, Grand Vizier, Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha, took the matter in hand, with the result that the house agreed that these courtesies should only be observed before the house was in session.

To put matters bluntly, these amenities proved themselves a nuisance. Mukhtar Pasha took the matter in hand, with the result that the house agreed that these courtesies should only be observed before the house was in session.

As the members drop in now, all in their seats rise and exchange compliments with the late comer, but as soon as business begins the belated one, metaphorically, like Longfellow's Arab, "folds his tent and silently steals" away into his seat. – From The San Francisco Call, 1911

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber is the Site Editor for Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia