Turkey's intangible cultural heritage listed by UNESCO: Karagöz, Meddah, Ebru...

The Art of the Meddah (Public Storytelling) may be described as the art of telling stories for the purpose of entertaining an audience with impersonations and animation. The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony is a Sufi ceremony that symbolizes stages on the path to accessing God and contains religious elements and themes with detailed rules and characteristics. Karagöz is a shadow play performed by an artist and is based on the funny dialogues and squabbles between Karagöz and Hacivat. The Minstrelsy tradition is not only the cultural memory of Anatolia, but it is also an important expression of its cultural diversity and richness. It is a multi-faceted art that includes poetic, musical and narrative expressions filtered and shaped through centuries of experience. The Kırkpınar Oil Wrestling annual tournament (the oldest wrestling tournament of the world) started when Edirne was conquered by the Ottomans in 1361. The tradition continued with the participation of hundreds of wrestlers every year and will have been held 654 times in 2015. Traditional sohbet meetings have different names in different areas, including: sıra gezmeleri, sıra name, barana sohbetleri, yaran, sırayarenler, kürsübaşı sohbetleri, velime geceleri, cümbüş, delikanlıteşkilatı, gençler kurulu, gezek, keyf/kef, muhabbet, oda teşkilatı,oturmah, sohbet, and erfane. The semah performed during the service (cem) as required by Alevi and Bektaşi belief is a means of reaching God through mystical and aesthetic movements executed in harmony with the rhythm of music and song accompanied by a saz (Turkish stringed instrument) played by the zakir who conducts the service. The ceremonial meal where groups of men and women all work together cooking wheat and meat in large cauldrons over an open fire is called 'keşkek', and the rituals that accompany the meal are called the Ceremonial Keşkek Tradition. The Mesir Macunu Festival celebrated during the week of Nevruz (March 21-24), which is recognized as the beginning of spring, includes various cultural and traditional practices. European countries developed their coffee brewing methods after deriving coffee drinking habit from the Turks; however, the method of brewing Turkish coffee has remained almost unchanged. Ebru is the traditional art of creating colorful patterns by sprinkling and brushing color pigments on a pan of oily water and then transforming this pattern to a special paper. Lavash, Katyrma, Jupka and Yufka being varieties of round- or oval-shaped thin breads that take shape by rolling dough by hand or using a dough roller, called 'oklava' symbolizes not only a consumption element but also a common making and sharing culture inherited from the past in the involving regions of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. Nevruz is widely celebrated in the northern hemisphere, particularly in societies that speak Turkish and Persian. Nevruz comes from the Persian words nev and ruz. It actually means 'new day' and is a celebration of spring that is regarded as the first day of the year in many societies. Çini-making means the craftsmanship shaped around traditional Turkish art of çini since 12th century with its own specific production and adornment techniques like 'minai', 'luster', 'polishing', 'underglaze'.