Harem At Door

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In February, I posted a story called Strawberries and Cream

Oh wait. It was not a recipe or any cooking post I did, but about how we should find the taste behind what we do, so that might be our true bliss bringing a happiness and satisfaction.

I think whenever a positive story comes out like this it always brings good notes or questions: usually intercommunication and existing readers' experience through channels such as comment board. I like it:)

Now this post will be kind of supportive on intercommunication. To begin to answer this question, I should point out that I personally believe that blogosphere is a form of communication, similar to mail, phone. To me there is no difference. People can leave comment to be heard, to be replied. It's really just a valuable note as to who is listening.

Here is what dropped in the related comments section:

Feb 29, 2009 by uha1:

" That ring reminded me the old Ottoman door bells, made of two piece of rings, larger ring outside and a small ring inside to knock the door. Men knocks the larger one, it sounds ticker and ladies knocks the smaller one; it reveals the gender of the visitor so the host can prepare her/himself. I thought that would be nice if you could find a picture of such doorbells. "

Of course! Of course I could. And, I did. With a deep pleasure.

Made of wrought iron in a refined union of workmanship and taste, the doorbells are as beautiful as they are functional. Mounted on the outside of the door. As uha1 said, they consist of two parts: while men arriving at the house use the upper knocker with its deeper sound, women announce their presence using the lower, softer sounding one.

So- that way the people inside know whether a man or a woman is at the door, and can open it accordingly. I think you can hardly wait to see a few of such doorbells, what they look like:







All of the Ottoman-style doorbells seen above are belonging to the following small picturesque town of Kemaliye of Erzincan province,


that is known for its traditional homes with their artistic details as below,


and located in the heart of Anatolia:


Even though this harem-like door knocking tradition already left in the past, the door-knocker tradition continues in the following way for years in Kemaliye town. Here are some examples how amazing door-knocks to be produced:

As you see the door-knockers of Kemaliye's traditional houses are an interesting feature of the façades. These distinctive houses in their spectacular setting are fascinating examples of the varied architecture of Ottoman Turkey, reflecting local culture in their design and structure.

In this century when everything is becoming monotonously alike, Kemaliye is one of those rare places to die for, and fully deserving to be preserved with meticulous care; all its historical assets, cultural diversity and natural beauty.


What I see is that our participation in the conversation is renewing us and giving new connections with great people who we would never meet in real life. Once again I find this place a satisfactory instrument for keeping track of ideas, trends, interesting novelties, and engaging in a conversation with all of you, readers and friends.

I enjoyed seeing uha1's interest on door tradition, hoping that s/he will find this post to be helpful:)

I am to close up this article, but I can't stop thinking on: Could not it be possible to apply the same tradition at the door of our blogs? Maybe odd but I'd like to get some statistical information. Take for example, I'm seriously wondering the F/M percentage who reads my blog. Don't you have such curiosity?