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a house in anatolia
Mahsere, which is placed right on the entrance © Elif Başlı
Have you ever been to any village in Anatolia? Such as in Eastern Anatolia. Now, I will take you to one in Malatya, to the place where the sun dries the most beautiful apricots. I say the most beautiful, but ingenuity is not only in apricot, it is as if the sun has a big role in catching that taste. Like, there is another sun there, it is rising. I will leave the sun and apricots aside and take you to the 140-year-old mud brick house where my grandfather was born. Now, we are in the town of Sayfiye, where the Cor Harık is flowing affluent. My grandfather’s house welcomes us with an iron door. We open the door and move from gizzard to Hayat (“life”).a I think that a stone mass in the shape of a water drop on the mahzereb attracted your attention.1 Let me explain right away; a stone mass on which fruits such as mulberries and grapes are lined up.2 These fruits are crushed with
great force. The molasses is made from these juices. Yes, we have finally stepped into Hayat. How good does the name sound, right? Anyways, most of the summer days are spent in this area. Here, meals are made, quilts are beaten, apricots are extracted and guests are hosted. In winter, all this are passed to the room next to it. This area is called the Selamlıkc and is the most distant place from the private areas of the house.3 Sit for a minute or two, in the Hayat, you have a lush courtyard on the opposite. Do not think that these beauties are only for the eye that sees. The sound you hear is the sound of the flowing sparkling waters. Harık, a unique feature of this region, itself is a kind of water. This water canal was established to pass through the courtyard of each house.
