Turkish bathing culture - or choosing wife in a Turkish way
Nowadays can only be seen the ruins of Valide Sultana hamam, but a contemporary Turkish travelogue says it used to be a really impressive building with a red dome, pleasant water.
The meaning of the name is: the Sultan's mother. Baths had great importance in the Ottoman culture, they were considered to be a kind of community spaces where people could meet and talk. And, anyway, they could thoroughly scrutinise each other. Since baths were not mixed at that time, men had to miss the sight of ladies, or, they got indirect information. But how? A good mother does everything for her son...
Yes, at that time it was a custom that at first boys' mothers scrutinised the young, naked girls, just for the sake of their son. You can unleash your imagination, however, the real function was not that personal. In reality mothers just wanted to be sure of the health of the girls, whether their body was suitable for giving birth.
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