Şile celebrates its world-famous product

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Şile is holding its 22nd annual Şile Festival this weekend. It actually started on Friday evening but there’s still plenty of entertainment to go around today and tomorrow. The fun begins at 18:00 [HH] How the women in Şile started weaving their trademark material doesn’t seem to be known although it is thought to have been somewhat more than 150 years ago. Perhaps they started just to satisfy the needs of their families and village, the usual reason in a country with limited resources and poor communications

GÜL DEMİR and NIKI GAMM
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News

A small fishing town on the coast of the Black Sea at the entrance of the Bosphorus Straits has given its name to a type of cotton cloth that has gone round the world – Şile Bezi. Crimpled cotton is another way to describe this light, see-through, versatile cotton material. It has become so popular that now even the Chinese and the Indians are producing their versions. Şile is only 70 kilometers from Istanbul. Although the city itself numbers about 10,000 inhabitants for most of the year, summer visitors, day trippers, may tally to around 300,000 between June and September. There are numerous lodgings available as well as bars and restaurants while a nice sandy beach attracts bathers in spite of the potentially dangerous waters that can suddenly turn a pleasant swim into a lethal exercise.

A dense forest has managed to survive the onslaught of modern tourism. A lighthouse, the remains of a 13th century Genoese fortress and jagged cliffs are more than enough for the romantically inclined mind. The fortress has been studied with the thought that it might be repaired one day. It was built in Byzantine times by the Genoese to fend off attacks from the sea. The Ottomans later used it for the same purpose. The lighthouse was first built in Ottoman times and a small tomb and shrine to Kum Baba, Father Sand, occupies a tree-covered hill.Şile is holding its 22nd annual Şile Festival this weekend. It actually started on Friday evening but there's still plenty of entertainment to go around today and tomorrow. The fun begins at 18:00 with children's programs, continues on with folk dances and from 20:30 onwards, the concerts begin. The singers include Tan and Izel, Sami and Group Sefarad. Who knows when the programs end although the weather is great all night.

Şile has long history

As a village Şile has been there since time immemorial. One source suggests that its origin goes back to 700 B.C. when it was founded by traders as the last port traveling to Istanbul from the east on the Black Sea. This was approximately the same time that Byzantium was established. One is reminded of Jason and his pursuit of the Golden Fleece along the coast to the east, only to return with the witch Medea and her father in hot pursuit, actually of the Fleece, not Medea. The Greek name of the city was Şile and the village would have been different in those days as one of the ends of trading routes from Central Anatolia. Furs, hides, gold, possibly honey in exchange for fish and merchandise from passing trading ships. Dramatic cliffs, a sandy cove where ships could tie up. The buildings would most likely have been built of wood and the streets unpaved mud or dust. Its inhabitants probably made their living from fishing more than trading once boats no longer had to hug the coast line.

Xenophon and his 10,000 men are supposed to have spent a winter here as they neared the end of their long trek across Anatolia from Babylonia. These Greek soldiers had been lured into an attempt to overcome a Persian king of the time and when this insurrection failed, they had found themselves without leaders and thousands of miles from their homes in ancient Greece. There is even a large cave at Şile that is supposed to have housed Xenophon and his men during the bad weather. Twenty, thirty years ago even Turks barely knew where this seaside village was although some members of the intrepid middle-class in Istanbul had already seen the advance of having a summer home there. Most people would have confused the place with its opposite number, Kilyos, on the other side of the entrance to the Straits but this village is easier to reach since the majority of Istanbulites live on that side. Gradually Şile became better known and even popular. One or two pensions and hotels became many and the village increased in size all year round as it became easier. How the women in Şile started weaving their trademark material doesn't seem to be known although it is thought to have been somewhat more than 150 years ago. Perhaps they started just to satisfy the needs of their families and village, the usual reason in a country with limited resources and poor communications. Cotton in Turkey comes from the southeast but would have been more or less available throughout the country. The Istanbul summer tourists would have brought the material into the city where it would be sold and what better place to sell it than in the Covered Bazaar where tourists would spread its fame throughout the world. Until the end of the 1960s, it was impossible to find off-the-rack, ready-made women's clothing in Istanbul but there were Şile bezi blouses – not that you saw many Turkish women wearing them, mostly foreigners.The material traditionally was hand-woven on a loom at home although today machine looms have taken over. Some still are known to carry out weaving at home. The result has been described as “crimpled.” Why not? The result certainly looks the way the word sounds. The material originally was not dyed but embroidered, and Turkish women are very good at embroidery. The material would be 40 cm in width and 20 meters long. It would then be left to whiten in a mixture of sea water, carbonate and lime before being spread out under the sun to dry on the rocks or the sand. Color may then be added as embroidery using a floss silk thread. Dyes are now used more often than not for color in blouses and dresses and many of the types of Şile bezi sold in the bazaars of Istanbul are clearly machine sewn. The motifs used in the embroidery are usually the classic type with flowers, leaves and fruits. The amount of floral design seems to be rather more in recent years perhaps reflecting a trend to clunky colored necklaces in the West. The different uses to which this Şile bezi would be put are very interesting and reflect how a Turkish woman would normally use them from nightgown to blouse, tablecloth to salon curtains. One Turkish company is now describing Şile bezi as eco-friendly and of course it is since it is 100 percent cotton. Embroidery is a skill learned as a child. It can be engaged in during the long winter hours when the weather is nasty outside. It has an artistic function and beautifies clothing as well as houses. Embroidered materials were always considered an essential part of the trousseau that young women would bring to their marriage. With the Festival starting in the evening, it's possible to enjoy oneself on a shopping spree beforehand and who knows? Perhaps we'll see you there with your arm loads of Şile bezi clothing.

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