Women of the World
The Hour of Tea
by Marion van den Ende
In Turkey a guest is never received empty-handed. This woman keeps the hour of tea: the water waiting, the tulip-shaped glasses, the gesture that says stay a while longer. The everyday, raised to ceremony.
- TechniqueHahnemühle · Dibond
- Size80 × 80 cm
- EditionEdition of 24
- Price€895
The hour of çay
In Turkey tea — çay — is far more than a drink. It is brewed in the çaydanlık, the double kettle, where strong infusion and hot water stand ready so that each glass comes out just right. Poured into the small, tulip-shaped glasses that let the warmth through, it is shared throughout the day: on waking, at the market, between neighbours, and always when someone comes to call. To turn a guest away is almost unthinkable; offering tea is the simplest and oldest form of hospitality.
What this work shows is not folklore but dignity. In the pouring of a glass lies a whole understanding of how people treat one another: patience, attention, taking time for the other. The hour of tea knows no hurry — it is a pause that keeps people together, generation after generation.
Around the world it is often women who keep and pass on such rituals, without fuss, as a natural part of life. This Turkish woman stands for them all: bearers of a culture that lives not in monuments but in gestures, in the everyday done with care. Therein lies her quiet strength.
