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- Hodja! What do they do with the old full moons? - They cut them up into small pieces and make the stars! |
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Nasreddin Hodja is a smiling face out of the dark Middle Ages. His wit and wisdom were those of a folk philosopher, poking fun at the elite and everyone's foibles. The jokes told about his words and actions strike as vivid a chord today as they have for centuries, and unlike most humour they transcend geographic boundaries and languages.
The incidents and characters in these stories illustrate the comic, eccentric and inconsistent aspects of human beings through Nasreddin Hodja's shrewd observations. Nasreddin Hodja was a cleric during Seljuk times. He was born in 1208 in Hortu village near Sivrihisar in Central Anatolia. As a young boy he must have enjoyed a free country childhood and lived in one of the cottages with adobe walls and flat baked earth roofs, typical of this region. He received his early education from his father, the village imam, and went on to study at the medrese.
This won him a deep love which has lasted for centuries. In the pessimistic and strife-torn world of the Middle Ages, Nasreddin Hodja radiated optimism. Yet this certainly did not prevent him from attacking injustice with wounding words. In his accounts he always seeks a peaceful way to get his message across, getting the better of his antagonists without argument or fight. He loved life, and despite being a man of religion disliked speaking of death. When he was asked about where the mourrners should stand when carrying the coffin at a funeral, he retorted, "As long as you are not the one inside it doesn't matter a jot!" Nasreddin Hodja never let trivial matters worry him. When a kite seized the liver he was carrying home for supper, he shouted "You're wasting your time, I've got the recipe!" His affection extended to animals, and in many anecdotes we find him talking to his donkey like a friend. Among the things which annoy Nasreddin Hodja most are meanness, bigotry, injustice, corrupt judges, insolence and sycophancy.
Another trait of Nasreddin Hodja is his courage. This is shown best in the stories about him and Timur, the feared Mongol ruler who in fact was not a contemporary of Nasreddin Hodja at all, but overran Ottoman Turkey in 1402. Although many of the Nasreddin Hodja stories are not those told during his lifetime, but were invented and changed over succeeding centuries, they represent the humanism and down to earth insight of the ordinary man which marked Nasreddin Hodja while he lived.
Source Document: SKYLIFE (Turkish Airlines Publication). Seriously speaking, Nasreddin Hodja or, simply the Hodja, needs no introduction. To us, such an attempt appears a very silly thing indeed. Anyway, we owe it to the venerable teacher, of whom you will hear shortly, to increase the membership of fraternity.
"Let people laugh at you, as long as there are people in the world capable of laughter!" We hope never to see a world inhabited by people incapable of laughter!
It may well be claimed, however, that all the stories attributed to the Hodja can easily be, as certainly most of them are, a product of the collective humour, the philosophy and the mind of the Turkish people. You have only to mentioned the name of the Hodja and every Turk worth his salt will get ready to laugh. He has not the least doubt that he is about to hear a story which will appeal to him. Even the stories that may sound dull to others, invariably have something appealing to a Turk.
You would be amazed, if you knew, how many times a day the Hodja is quoted or alluded to, by every Turk. There is practically no instance in daily life, but a Hodja story exists, readily to the occasion.
There are only a few established facts about Nasreddin Hodja. He was born at a small willage
near Sivrihisar and later settled in Aksehir, where he lies buried. His grave has an iron door
with a huge padlock on it. But if you intend to pay him a visit, you needn't be discouraged by
the locked door. There are no walls around his grave!.
Source Document: One Day The Hodja.
He is so much at one with the people that perhaps it is truer to say he lived his works rather than created them. With a strong social personality, Nasreddin Hodja constitutes the nucleus of Turkish folk humour, with stories emanating from his personality being woven by the people around his character century after century, so that the humour of Hodja has reached our day as vigorous and as close to people's heart as ever.
Source Document: The Association of Cartoonists of Turkey. Yet, it should be pointed out that these stories are related neither to Nasreddin Hodja himself nor to his historical personality. In other words, over the centuries many new stories where he was used as the main character have emerged, enriching the collection we have today. According to certain stories, Hodja was a contemporary of Tamerlane, who invaded Anatolia at the beginning of the 15th century, and according to the others, he lived either before or after the age of Tamerlane. Today, we still do not have historical documents that relate Hodja's life and his personality in depth.
The town of Sivrihisar of the city of Eskisehir is accepted as the birthplace of Hodja. A gravestone dated 1327 found in Sivrihisar, belongs to his daughter Fatima and indicates that she lived 43 more years after his death.
Based on the above mentioned documents and certain stories, following is the life story of Nasreddin Hodja: He was born in the village of Hortu of Sivrihisar and died in 1284 in Aksehir, a province of Konya, where his tomb is. His father was the imam(religious leader) of the village. Nasr-ed-Din, or "Victory of the Faith", was the name given by his parents to the author of the tales, and Hodja, meaning "Master" or "Teacher" is the honorific title which he subsequently acquired. He was sent at an early age to be taught the essentials of Mohammedan religious and legal learning according to the Hanafiya school in Konya. He qualified thus to be a schoolmaster and an "Imam"; leader of public prayers in the Mosque, and he also became a "Kadi"; magistrate dispensing Mohammedan Canon Law, which was in theory the only law of the land, tempered though it might be frequently by weightier considerations of a material order. Wit, common sense, ingenuousness, ridicule...and the kind of humor that reflects human psychology, exposes the shortcomings of a society, criticizes even state and religious affairs yet always settles matters amicably are the elements which together create a special kind of logic, the Nasreddin Hodja logic. These features of the stories make the 13th century character Nasreddin Hodja immortal. Therefore it is not an exaggeration to consider him one of the main building blocks of folk thought, and his humor, one of the best in the world.
The themes of the stories cover not just the age when Nasreddin
Hodja lived but also the adventures of Turkish people over the
centuries. As one of our writers said "Nasreddin Hodja is
the only person who lived both before his birth and after his
death.
Nasreddin Hodja stories are told in such succinct phrases that the last phrase of the stories which is uttered by Hodja have become popular epigrams or sayings like "laying flour on rope", "making it look like a bird", "the guilt is gone, the fight is over", "cutting the branch one is sitting on", etc.
After reading some of the stories of Hodja, we think that you, too, will believe that Hodja will be living for generations to come...Just as Hodja did, may be you, too, will answer when asked "What do they do with the old full moons?", "They cut them up into small pieces and make the stars!.." Even in this Space Age!.
Source Document: Nasreddin Hodja, ISBN 975-479-123-6 NET Bookstores. |
Nasreddin Hodja stories are universal because they describe
human nature and weaknesses of mankind everywhere. That is
why 1996 has been proclaimed Nasreddin Hodja Year by UNESCO.
After working as a village imam for some years, he moved in 1237 to
the town of Aksehir. There he is known to have studied under such
notable scholars of the time as seyid Mahmud Hayrani and Seyid Haci
Ibrahim. Later he became a professor at the medrese in Aksehir and
served as kadi. Nasreddin Hodja died in 1284 at the age of 76, and
was buried in Aksehir in a tomb which symbolizes the absurdity in life
which he had loved to expose while alive. A door with a great lock
stands by the tomb, but there are no walls for a door.
Immortalised by his humorous and thought provoking words and actions,
Nasreddin Hodja was a man of the people who percieved the world through
their eyes.
One day a man stopped him and said, "Hodja, a roasted stuffed turkey just went
past." Nasreddin Hodja replied, "What has that got to do with me?" "But
it went to your house", said the man. "What has that got to do with you?"
retorted Nasreddin Hodja. His optimism is illustrated by one of his most
famous stories. One day a man found him pouring the remains of his yogurt
into Aksehir Lake. "Hodja, what are you doing?" the asked. "I am turning
the lake into yogurt," he replied. When the laughed at him, he said,
"But you never know perhaps it might." This endorsement of hope against
all odds has remained valid in every era.
The story goes that, some five or seven centuries ago... (This is where you should
stop if you are very particular about dates...) when Nasreddin was still a young boy
at school, his classmates conspired to play a trick on their teacher. (Sorry, we have
no record of the nature of the trick.) The teacher having caught the culprits redhanded,
forced each one to confess the particular part he had played in the pot and with utmost
fairness, punished him accordingly. Young Nasreddin's part had been simply to watch and
laugh. The old gentleman, after due deliberation, pronounced the perfect punishment for
him:
But let us get on with our introduction, before you forget all about it. To say that all
the stories currently attributed to the Hodja have truly originated from him would be an
exaggeration, since many of the historical personalities mentioned in various stories,
are known to have lived centuries apart.
Take for example the story in which the Hodja throws yeast into the salt-lake near Aksehir.
He knows perfectly well that, just a little bit of yeast can't ferment the great lake into
yoghurt. But well, what if it should! Wouldn't it be wonderful?
Nasreddin Hodja, the master of Turkish humorists, lived in Aksehir between 1208
and 1285. He is partly Medrese educated (Muslim Theological School), partly self
trained. Historical information on his life and personality is highly limited, but from
what has travelled by word of mouth from generation to generation, we understand
him to have been a significant folk philosopher, with a view on life as intensely
amusing as it is stimulating and giving food for thought.
The date 386 found inscribed on a grave stone atracted a lot of
attention. Considering his humor, the date was read backwards.
The year 683 of the Islamic calendar corresponds to the years
1284-1285. Other documents were used to support the theory that
he died sometime in the years 1284-1285. One of the most reliable
document is the date1383 (796 in the Islamic calendar) found inscribed
on the wall of his tomb in Aksehir. It indicates that Hodja died
before 1393 and his tomb had been visited for years.
The oldest Nasreddin Hodja story is found in the book called "Saltukname"
written in 1480, which also contains other folk stories and legends.
It is stated in "Saltukname" that Hodja was born in
Sivrihisar and that the natives of Sivrihisar were famous for
their strange behavior and ingenousness. The strange behavior
of the natives of Sivrihisar is also mentioned in a handwritten
story book in Biblioteque Nationale in Paris. These documents
are considered proof of his birth in Sivrihisar.
It is obvious that Hodja was a witty man with sense of humor and
he was a good conversationalist. Yet, based on most of the stories
it is wrong to assume that everything he said was humorous. Over
the years, the number of Nasreddin Hodja stories increased significantly
since he was used as the main character in the new stories about
other people. Among these, there are some that are easily recognized
as not authentic Nasreddin Hodja stories. We can, therefore, say
that Hodja and his stories were created by the natives of Anatolia
in the 13th century, and the creation has lasted for
centuries. Today, these stories belong to all Turkish people.
There are many historical and social personalities who
kept on living after their death but the only person on earth
who lived before his birth is Nasreddin Hodja". Therefore,
social life, the shortcomings of social life, differences between
the ruling class and the common people, famines, the thousand
faces of daily life, man to man, man to object, man to animal
relations are the different themes of the stories and in all of
these stories Nasreddin Hodja was almost his "twin brother"
or a "competitor", and in other countries only the name Nasreddin Hodja was modified
in the stories. Today, Nasreddin Hodja stories are told in a vast
geographic area extending from East Turkmenistan to Hungary and
from Southern Siberia to North Africa. The stories have been translated
into many languages.
The new Nasreddin Hodja stories that emerge and the old ones that
are adapted prove that these stories are immortal. On the other
hand, it is stated that since these stories, products of the imagination
of common people, are adaptable it is natural that they are updated
in each generation and that is why Nasreddin Hodja is still the
most popular story character in Turkey. In other words, as light
attracts moths, Nasreddin Hodja character attracts new stories.
Every year, between july 5-10, International Nasreddin Hodja Festival
is organized in Aksehir where his tomb is. To keep Hodja character
alive, Turkish writers and artists have used it in drama, in music,
in movies (especially cartoons), in comic strips, in paintings.