Have you ever wondered how people in the olden days stayed entertained without smart phones and TV? Well, in this essay I am going to talk about the Yuan and the Ottomans’ ways of staying entertained when they were not at war.
The Yuan Dynasty
When the Mongols came down and conquered the Song Dynasty (960- 1279), many Chinese scholars were removed from their positions and replaced by Mongols. These scholars then turned to drama and started writing four-act musicals known as zaju. Usually, singing was restricted to one character. The people loved the beautiful, poetic lyrics of the songs. Even though thousands of plays were written, only about 200 survived.
“Under Yuan rule the regional music drama that had gone two separate ways during the Song dynasty was intermixed as yuanqu or “Yuan drama.” Several forms of dancing and acrobatics were added to popular entertainment. Poetry emphasized sanqu (“nondramatic songs”), and Middle Mongol Chinese fiction grew in popularity. Many writers wrote romantic plays of four or five acts in Middle Mongol Chinese, with several songs in each act. The new literary genre attracted many men of letters, as well as large audiences.”[i][ii]
The Ottoman Empire
While the Yuan only had their plays, the Ottomans had many forms of entertainment. They had plays, belly dancers, acrobats, storytellers, and shadow plays. They called their plays Orta oyunu, meaning middle play. It got its name from the fact that the performers were in the middle of the audience.
They also had female and male dancers. The female dancers, known as Cengi, were belly dancers. The male dancers were known as Kocek, young men who would cross dress in feminine attire. Their performances were known as Kocek oyunu, which “blended Arab, Greek, Assyrian, and Kurdish elements.”[iii]
There were also storytellers known as Meddahs. Meddahs were street performers, and played in front of coffeehouses. There were no time limits to their shows. It would last as long as the crowd stayed interested. The stories of the Meddahs were usually true but slightly modified to fit the audience. Meddahs were travelling artists and usually went to towns along the spice road. They would use props to represent different characters and gave different voices to each character. Istanbul meddahs would incorporate music into their stories.
The Ottomans also had puppet plays. One of the most common plays was called Karagoz and Hacivat. The character of Hacivat came from the educated class while the character of Karagoz came from the less educated class. While Hacivat was levelheaded and calm, Karagoz was irrational. Each play may have different topics but usually contained the two classic characters.
Conclusion
If you think about it, the Yuan and Ottomans had the same entertainment. Of course there were a few differences, like how the Ottomans kept their plays separate from their dancers while the Yuan combined theirs. Also, note how the Ottomans had storytellers while the Yuan had their books.
[i]The Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Yuan Dynasty.” Britannica. 20 July 1998. Web. 22 February 2021 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Toghto
[iii] Wikipedia. “Kocek.” Wikipedia. 9February 2021. Accessed 4 March 2021 Köçek – Wikipedia
Sophia Elahi RPC Blog 