Urfa
My mind is calm. After having spent the journey contemplating the journey thus far I decided to explore the park where families have gathered to spend their day off. Fathers walk with toddlers in their arms as they share smiles wide with life. Young women, who don colourful head dresses and ankle length designer trench coats, walk arm in arm giggling as they share secrets - perhaps of the boys they have their eye on. Grandfathers with Kurdish head wraps and thick mustaches gently ply their prayer beads as they talk of former glories. Tim and again it is the children who capture my attention. They point excitedly at the pools and canals yelling with delight: "Balak!!" (fish).
The carp, numbering in the thousands, thrive in their unique situation as the recipients of Urfa's great legend. I pieced the story of the legend together from several accounts, some in broken Turkish and German. Long, long ago a prophet was born in a cave. His name was Abraham. Unfortunately for Abraham the cave in which he was born was at the foot of a mountain belonging to Nimrod, the great hunter. Abraham was hidden in the cave, but not for long. Nimrod caught wind of the news of his birth and tracked him down as only a legendary hunter could do. He took the baby up to the top of the mountain and flung him down from the pillars of the acropolis. His goal was to send Abraham hurtling down to the furnaces in the valley below. As Abraham flew threw the air God then entered the scene. He saw what was happening and realized his plan for humanity was in jeopardy. So, he turned the furnaces into pools of carp that gently caught Abraham and ferried him to shore. After having been miraculously saved Abraham vowed that anyone who eats one of the fish will go blind. For thousands of years the fish have multiplied without hindrance.
The antiquity of the story is quite fascinating. This may be the oldest surviving legend that we know of. According to William Dalrymple in his book "From the Holy Mountain," the legend predates Muslim and Christian traditions. The roots are found in the one of the most ancient cults of the Middle East, that of the Syrian fertility goddess, Attargatis. It is not surprising that the cult centered its worship around water; the fish being the beneficiary of worshipers who performed bizarre erotic ceremonies at Attargatis' altar in the middle of the pools.
The main pond now sits with a mosque and a row of mesmerizing arches painted with the hues of honey in the fading sunlight. The pond is a calm blue, but as pellets are dropped from the gentle hands of children, the fish surge in an apocalyptic thrashing of fin, wide eyes and gaping mouths. Several of the carp have wounds now whitened with festering infection, yet they are relentless as they compete for survival. Some of the fish are inadvertently hoisted onto the backs of the others as the individual fish become a surge of bodies - a pulsating mass of greys and greens, competition and survival.
Urfa (formely Edessa) has succumbed to one vanquishing invader after another from the Hittites to the Crusaders, yet one constant remains: the gaping mouths of the protected carp and the wide eyes of the children feeding them.
The carp, numbering in the thousands, thrive in their unique situation as the recipients of Urfa's great legend. I pieced the story of the legend together from several accounts, some in broken Turkish and German. Long, long ago a prophet was born in a cave. His name was Abraham. Unfortunately for Abraham the cave in which he was born was at the foot of a mountain belonging to Nimrod, the great hunter. Abraham was hidden in the cave, but not for long. Nimrod caught wind of the news of his birth and tracked him down as only a legendary hunter could do. He took the baby up to the top of the mountain and flung him down from the pillars of the acropolis. His goal was to send Abraham hurtling down to the furnaces in the valley below. As Abraham flew threw the air God then entered the scene. He saw what was happening and realized his plan for humanity was in jeopardy. So, he turned the furnaces into pools of carp that gently caught Abraham and ferried him to shore. After having been miraculously saved Abraham vowed that anyone who eats one of the fish will go blind. For thousands of years the fish have multiplied without hindrance.
The antiquity of the story is quite fascinating. This may be the oldest surviving legend that we know of. According to William Dalrymple in his book "From the Holy Mountain," the legend predates Muslim and Christian traditions. The roots are found in the one of the most ancient cults of the Middle East, that of the Syrian fertility goddess, Attargatis. It is not surprising that the cult centered its worship around water; the fish being the beneficiary of worshipers who performed bizarre erotic ceremonies at Attargatis' altar in the middle of the pools.
The main pond now sits with a mosque and a row of mesmerizing arches painted with the hues of honey in the fading sunlight. The pond is a calm blue, but as pellets are dropped from the gentle hands of children, the fish surge in an apocalyptic thrashing of fin, wide eyes and gaping mouths. Several of the carp have wounds now whitened with festering infection, yet they are relentless as they compete for survival. Some of the fish are inadvertently hoisted onto the backs of the others as the individual fish become a surge of bodies - a pulsating mass of greys and greens, competition and survival.
Urfa (formely Edessa) has succumbed to one vanquishing invader after another from the Hittites to the Crusaders, yet one constant remains: the gaping mouths of the protected carp and the wide eyes of the children feeding them.
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