Alaca Taşı, or Agate for the Unlucky

Alaca Taşı - Agate

As I watch the Turkish series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, more and more interesting folklore comes up. Last episode, there was something called an Alaca Taşı - literally, "a taking stone". So, being the diligent researcher that I am, I dug up some information about it.

An Alaca Taşı is a type of color changing agate, white with black veins, in this case. The stone captures illness, bad luck, stress, or any other problem and locks it up inside itself.

It's all in black and white.

Black:Evil
White:Good

If the agate has done its job, then the black veins creep into the white stone, eventually turning the whole thing black. Soaking the stone in white vinegar "resets" it for further use, so I'm guessing the color change has to do with and acid/base balance in the stone, but I'm not a scientist. All agates can change color if exposed to heat or chemicals.

In researching this stone, I also discovered that "mood rings" are actually a type of agate. I remember getting one as a souvenir one summer, and then watching it slowly change from green to blue, and back again.

I digress.

Agate is known across the world from absorbing negativity, and is used in making evil eye charms. I even found one site claiming that agate "Can give you the strength to carry on."

Hmm. I might want to find out where I hid that souvenir ring.

Kına - Henna

image via sohbeteli.com

I've never had the chance to use kına in my writing, but an opportunity just arose. I have a girl being sent off to the palace. :)
In the middle east, women adorn themselves with henna for holidays and special occasions, or even just to feel pretty. In Turkey, the custom is usually reserved for weddings now.

This is a more elaborate design than I've seen there. It might just be a case of where I lived though, since I snagged this off a Turkish website. The version I saw was basically a finger dipped up to the knuckle, or a blob placed inside the palm. Very basic.

Since I like the concept of the designs left behind, I'm thinking to use henna in a more modernistic way, but the details haven't worked themselves out yet. Stay tuned for the rough draft!

I used to use henna when I lived in Abu Dhabi. I still have some in my makeup case. There it was no big deal. Here: You should see the look on people's faces when I open my hand. Hehe. I guess I'm not as conservative as I pretend to be.

Henna lasts about two weeks on the hands. I don't like to get it on my fingernails because it takes forever to grow out. On the foot, designs can last for months.

Henna in the hair is another post.... I have a cute story for that one.

Gazi Antep or Gaziantep? That is my question...

image via digitaltrends.com

Being a creature who loves the world of words, I generally pay attention to roots/stems, possible origins of a word, etc. A few things about the town names in Turkey which I've observed:

Gaziantep might have been Gazi Antep, and I sort of figured this out in a weird way. Ask someone from that town where they're from and they might tell you they are "Antepli", or from Antep. So what's the Gazi part about? Lucky for me (and you) I travel with my handy-dandy reference guide - erm - husband. Gazi can also be spelled ghazi and means warrior. Warriors are from Antep, I guess?

How about Kahramanmaraş?  Kahramanmaraş or Kahraman Maraş. I like the ice cream from there - or at least the guy in Mersin who's from there makes good ice cream, maybe it has something to do with that? Nope. For Maraş, we honor the hero.

Then there's Şanliurfa, or Şanli Urfa, aka famous, but for what? I found all kinds of foods like kebab and cheese, etc, but you know Gazi Antep has plenty of yummy stuff too.

There are probably other examples and I've noticed the trend doesn't apply to just cities. Example: Fatih Sultan Mehmet. The guy's name was Mehmet! Fatih=Victor Now we have Fatihs and Sultans and Mehmets...but that's another story.

Imagine if we had names like that. Instead of New York, it could have been Opulent York or maybeVogue York, although I suppose at the time it was named, NY was neither of those things.

Founder President George?

Perhaps I need to work on the embellishment technique.

So:

Who is the hero of Maraş? Who is the Warrior of Antep? Why is Urfa famous? Well, that seems to be my homework for the week. That and the gypsy girl from Gaziantep.

Gaziantep "Antep the Victorious Warrior"