NATURAL ALEPPO SOAPS
Everything you touch in Ancient Levantine country and in
Anatolia has a story. MACHRIQUE soaps, indispensable natural
product of beauty and cleaning, have been done for thousands of
years even in the houses of Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Isn’t it
unfair not to tell about the precious products the oils are
extracted from to produce the soaps, while talking about the
soaps?
Olive tree is sacred. Nobody can say anything to the contrary.
It is one of the three trees that reflect Adam’s - the first
human being - wish for immortality and eternity. Its name is
reminiscent of life and of beloved for everything. The homeland
of the olive tree is the country of Levantine from which it has
spread to Anatolia and Mediterranean.
The story of Daphne tree is at the same time Apollo’s love
story. The maiden Daphne was a beautiful girl who dedicated
herself to the river god and whose body smelled nice. What
swept Apollo off his feet was Daphne’s admirable scent. Daphne
didn’t surrender to Apollo’s temptations and turned into a tree
which smells nice like her.
In the geography of Levantine and Anatolia, jasmine flower is
very popular and its name is given to girls. When the
Mesopotamia warmth and the fabulous scent of jasmine come
together, the travel to the dreamland starts.
The poets in Anatolia and Mesopotamia have written thousands of
poems about rose and nightingale. The rose is a beloved flower
the nightingale can not do without.
Orange and Mediterranean are two concomitant words. Both of
them give happiness and comfort. The stupendous scent of orange
grove in flowering time makes the humanity set out on mystic
journeys of dreams.
The use of clay for the purposes of cleaning and cosmetics is a
very old tradition. It is said that Cleopatra had grown more
attractive thanks to the clayey waters of Anatolia.
As indispensable products of the HAMMAM which was consummated
by Roman and Ottoman civilizations as well as by the deep
historicity of the area, soaps are composed of these meaningful
products.
The basic material of the MACHRIQUE soaps made traditionally by
boiling in cauldrons is olive oil. MACHRIQUE soap is
impossible without it. Cleaning is a necessity; but isn’t it
necessary to smell nice besides cleaning? For which day are we
going to keep the oil of the beloved fruits of daphne tree?
Added to soaps at certain proportions, it bestows its scent
that provoked Apollo on the people using it.
It is said that in ancient Anatolia, the woman symbolizes the
fertility, which is definitely true. After Kybele, the
goddesses Artemis and Diana symbolized the fertility and the
abundance. Those women, symbol of fertility, who have been
producing soaps and olive oil for thousands of years at
Anatolian and Mesopotamian houses, added the aromatic oils of
the region to their soaps. Therefore, adding lavender, rose and
orange oils to the soaps and making soaps in different shapes
have become a tradition. So, MACHRIQUE soaps are
traditional.
Your rendezvous is about to start with hand-made kesse and
washcloths, as well as with olive-oiled soaps with laurel and
rose essences coming from a thousand-year old past.
HAMMAM: the world of meditation that is automatically created
under the bright dome
