Consuming ritual: reframing the Turkish henna-night ceremony

Abstract

The article focuses on the understanding of the intersections of ritual and consumption in Turkey. The henna-night ritual is a traditional rite-of-passage ceremony in which the family of the bride-to-be gives her away to the family of the groom. The ceremony was originally performed by the peoples of Anatolia in the Ottoman Empire, but was abandoned by the middle-class after the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. In the past 15 years, this and other "traditional" ceremonies have again gained in popularity among the middle-class. The new traditional movement in Turkey is also changing consumption habits in Turkey. The authors feel that the movement towards traditional Turkish identity is not only important socially, but also economically.