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In Yahyali, a district in Türkiye’s central Kayseri province long known for hand-woven carpets, women attending local carpet-weaving courses are keeping alive an ancient completion ritual called “keskencelik,” a small celebration held once a carpet has finally been finished after months of careful hand work.
Keskencelik, which was brought from Central Asia to Anatolia, is practiced as a way of marking the joy of completing a demanding weave. After a carpet comes off the loom, participants share sweets, Turkish delight and candies with others taking part in the work.
Keskencelik refers to the tradition of celebrating the moment a carpet is completed, and it is still being carried out in Yahyali as part of the district’s broader carpet-weaving heritage. The celebration is tied to the end of a long production process, and it is carried out in a simple, communal way through shared treats.
At the Sehit Adem Ilkkilic Public Education Center, women enrolled in carpet-weaving courses are continuing the tradition by offering sweet snacks after completing the carpets they weave on the looms.
Yahyali District Governor Ibrahim Gultekin linked the craft to a cultural history he described as stretching back about 3,000 years, saying the lived experiences of a society are turned into art through the motifs woven into carpets.
He said the artistic line running from Central Asia to Anatolia has continued, adding: "In a carpet motif, we can see uninterrupted motifs from the feelings of a mother living in Central Asia 3,000 years ago to the dreams of a young girl in a village of Yahyali 30 years ago. Therefore, what we reveal today or try to revive is actually raising a 3,000-year-old culture to its feet."
Speaking about how the practice has been maintained despite declining production, Gultekin said Yahyali once had 2,000 known looms, while today carpets have been completed on five looms and five more looms are still in progress.
He described keskencelik as a celebration held when weaving ends, with whatever food is available used to mark the moment, such as Turkish delight placed between biscuits, grapes and other small treats, and he said the same tradition would be carried on as current carpets are finished.
Yahyali Mayor Esat Ozturk also pointed to the district’s reputation for hand-woven carpets, recalling that carpets were once woven on 5,000 looms in the past, while noting that the number has since dropped.
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