In his book “Sexuality in Islam”, Abdelwahab Bouhdiba speaks of a public ritual taking place for both Greek and Turkish women. The woman would walk through a street, either veiled or not, wearing heavy perfume and walking in a special manner; swinging her hips so the jingling of her jewellery would attract attention so as to exhibit herself to the public.
The men would stare and begin their exclamations! With the grafting of one culture onto the other, the ingredients of such a ritual were to be found in the apparel of all Cypriot women in some way or another.
The cultural grafting extended further. Upon arriving to the island, the Ottomans immediately built hammams. Hammams were regarded as the shortest step from hygiene to eroticism.
A whole section of sexual life was organised around the hammam, frequented also by Christian women. The transition and initiation from childhood to puberty was all integrated within the concept and practices of the bath. It is the place where boys are first made aware of human anatomy and where girls are made aware of their bodies and possibilities.
When both grow up and mature, they are eventually separated. For girls, it becomes a beauty centre, and for boys, its purpose is to achieve manly consciousness. The mothers of sons would visit to see the naked young girls in the hammam and choose brides for their sons.
PNT-00039 > Sydney Arrobus (1901-1990), Nicosia, 1 March 1968, Watercolour, 14 x 22 cm, 1968.
© Costas and Rita Severis Foundation
