Blue baths Painting

Since time immemorial every mahalla or district in the historic inner city of Baku had its own hamam – from single-domed bath-houses to more grandiose 12-domed affairs, there was a hamam to suit every whim. But on no account did local people go to wash in another mahalla. Every family, young and old, went to the hamam in the mahalla where they lived. That’s what people did – they lived and grew old, bathing in their local hamam. There was regular weekly bathing, known as haftahamam, and special visits such as vajibat and janabat. Before important events in their lives, men performed the ritual ablutions in the hamam which their grandfathers and great-grandfathers before them had frequented. Weekly visits to the hamam – haftahamam – were obligatory for all members of the family. The vajibat ablution was performed by a family in which someone had died away from home. After the funeral, all the members of the family of the deceased had to bathe. After bathing, each person would throw a bucket of water first over their right shoulder, then over their left, and a third bucket over their head, and say a prayer of mourning: Messi-meyit qusulu eleyirem, vajibat-qurbati illallah (I am performing the ritual ablutions after touching a dead body, as required by God). Girls and women completed the janabat ritual wash after their monthly periods or after intimacy with their husband and the men after intimacy with their wives. They would give the reason for their ablutions and pray. If the oldest woman in a family went to the hamam of another mahalla, this would cause an immediate commotion – everyone realized that she had come to find a girl to be her son’s bride. The appearance of a woman in the hamam to choose a bride was practically as good as marriage. Each woman thought it their duty to pour water on the guest’s head at least once. Since that time, it has become a tradition to cement a friendship with water in the hamam. The hamam was not just a place for health, cleanliness and well-being, but for socializing too. Even some of our fairy tales begin in the hamam. In his Journey to Erzurum Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote enthusiastically about the Eastern hamam. The hamam is evidence of the level of culture. In Azerbaijan, there were hamams which were heated by a single candle. Unfortunately, in trying to discover their secret, our contemporaries destroyed these hamams. In the heat of the hamam, the human voice resonated, and bathers would burst into song like a nightingale. Some of Old city’s hamams are still there. These include the Haji Bani (Qayib) hamam, the Haji Mikayil hamam and the Qasimbey hamam, which are close to Maiden Tower and date between the 15th and 18th centuries.

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:27.6 W x 31.5 H x 0.8 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.