Karagöz and Hacivat
Traditional Ottoman shadow puppets of contrasting social classes.
Karagöz (literally 'Blackeye' in Turkish) and Hacivat (shortened from 'Hacı İvaz', meaning 'İvaz the Pilgrim') are the lead characters of a traditional Turkish shadow play that gained popularity during the Ottoman period and spread to many nation states of the former empire. The plays are most prominent in Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Adjara (autonomous republic of Georgia). In Greece, Karagöz is known as Karagiozis; in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as Karađoz. The central theme is the contrasting interaction between the two main characters, who are perfect foils: Karagöz represents the illiterate but straightforward public, while Hacivat belongs to the educated class, speaking Ottoman Turkish and using poetic language.
Quick Facts
- Medium
- Shadow play
- Culture
- Ottoman
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The earliest reliable references to the shadow play in the Ottoman context date to the 16th century, though no specific performance for Sultan Selim I is documented as a known fact. The 17th-century writer Evliya Çelebi mentioned performances during the reign of Bayezid II (1481–1512), not Bayezid I. While the 16th-century Ottoman Grand Mufti Muhammad Ebussuud el-İmadi is known for legal opinions on various matters, there is no widely-cited, specific fatwa regarding Karagöz performances in established canon. Some believe the plays originated from Java, where wayang kulit shadow puppet shows existed as early as the 11th century and arrived in the Ottoman Empire via traders. Another story claims Karagöz and Hacivat were actual people—clownish construction workers on a mosque in Bursa in the mid-14th century—whose slander of others slowed construction, leading to their execution; they were later immortalized as puppets.
Reader's Guide
Karagöz and Hacivat shadow plays were a major form of entertainment in the Ottoman Empire until the rise of radio and film. In Turkey, they are especially associated with Ramadan; in Greece, they are performed year-round and remain popular and televised. The plays were performed in coffee houses, rich private houses, and before the sultan. Every quarter of the city had its own Karagöz. Up until the Tanzimat reforms in the 19th century, the plays had unlimited satirical and obscene license, including sexual references and political satire. Later, they faced repression from Ottoman authorities, and by the founding of the Turkish Republic, Karagöz had become almost unrecognizable from its original form. Before the 20th century, many Karagöz performers were Jews. The puppets were made of horse, water buffalo, calf, or camel skin, about 15 inches high, with movable limbs jointed with waxed thread. The theatre used a white cotton screen and an oil lamp for rear projection. A performance required about four people: a puppeteer (Karagözcü, hayalî, or hayalbaz), an apprentice (sandıkkâr), a singer (yardak), and possibly a tambourine player (dairezen). The plays are structured in four parts: Mukaddime (introduction), Muhavere (dialogue), Fasil (main plot), and Bitiş (conclusion).
The Foil at the Heart of the Play
The entire tradition rests on a single dramatic engine: two men who could not be more different. Karagöz, whose name translates simply as "Blackeye," embodies the unlettered common folk—blunt, impulsive, and driven by a relentless stream of half-baked schemes to strike it rich, each one collapsing into failure. Hacivat, a shortened form of "Hacı İvaz" or "İvaz the Pilgrim," occupies the opposite pole. He speaks in the ornate, literary Ottoman Turkish of the educated class and carries himself with a cool, level-headed dignity. Yet for all his refinement, Hacivat never quite succeeds in taming his counterpart. The Turkish dramaturge Kırlı captured the contrast vividly: Hacivat belongs to the "upper body"—polished manners, aloof composure—while Karagöz lives in the "lower body," defined by appetite, profanity, and crude physicality. Around this central pair orbit a cast of ethnic characters—Armenians, Albanians, Greeks, French, Arabs—each rendered with broad, stereotypical traits that grounded the spectacle in the multilingual reality of Ottoman life.
Origins, Legends, and a Wandering Art
The precise birth of the tradition remains uncertain. One theory traces the form to the island of Java, where shadow-puppet shows called wayang kulit were already flourishing by the eleventh century, and suggests that traveling merchants carried the practice into Ottoman lands. Within the empire, the earliest documented staging was a performance for Sultan Selim I in Egypt after his 1517 conquest, though the seventeenth-century chronicler Evliya Çelebi claimed the art had graced the palace during Bayezid I's reign in the late fourteenth century. Two legends add color to the origin story. In one, a commoner stages a short puppet satire about corrupt officials before the sultan, earning a promotion to Grand Vizier. In another, Karagöz and Hacivat were real construction workers on a Bursa mosque in the mid-1300s whose bickering slowed the build so badly the ruler ordered their execution; public grief then transformed them into the beloved puppets who entertained the empire for centuries. The art spread across the former Ottoman world, taking local names such as Karagiozis in Greece and Karađoz in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and found strong footholds in Syria, Egypt, and the Adjara region of Georgia.
The Puppeteer's Craft and the Stage
The physical creation of the puppets was a highly specialized trade, with puppeteers organizing themselves into guilds. Each figure stood roughly fifteen inches tall and was fashioned from the skin of a horse, water buffalo, or calf, though the finest were cut from camel hide to resist warping. The leather was worked until it achieved a semi-translucent quality, then painted so that the projected images burst with color. Joints at the neck, arms, waist, and knees were lashed with waxed thread, giving the figures movable limbs, while rods running down the back allowed the puppeteer to guide every gesture with a single finger. The performance space was a three-sided booth draped in a curtain printed with branches and roses, its front fitted with a white cotton screen roughly three by four feet, known as the ayna or "mirror." A three-man orchestra sat at the foot of a small raised platform, and the show began the moment the puppet master lit the oil lamp called the şem'a. Because projection came from behind the screen, the audience never saw the performer. Scenery could include sailing ships, horseback riders, swaying palms, and even dragons, all accompanied by songs and layered vocal effects.
From Coffee Houses to the Brink of Extinction
In its golden age, the Karagöz–Hacivat play was the dominant popular entertainment across the Ottoman world, filling coffee houses, wealthy private homes, and even the sultan's court. Every quarter of a major city had its own dedicated troupe. Ramadan was the season of greatest demand: after a full day of fasting, crowds flooded the streets to eat, dance, and watch street performers, then poured into coffeehouses for evening shows that drew enormous audiences. Before the Tanzimat reforms of the nineteenth century, the plays enjoyed virtually unrestricted license for political satire, sexual innuendo, and coarse humor. Women and children watching from behind curtains received a tamer version of the jokes. The art also had a significant Jewish dimension; before the twentieth century, many performers were members of the Ottoman Jewish community who were active in popular music and theater. Yet the same satirical edge that made the form vital drew the attention of Ottoman authorities, who increasingly repressed it. By the founding of the Turkish Republic, the tradition had been so altered it was barely recognizable in its original shape. In Greece, however, the art survived into the modern era and continues to be performed and broadcast on television.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are Karagöz and Hacivat?
They are the two lead puppet characters of a traditional Ottoman shadow-play tradition. Karagöz's name literally means 'Blackeye,' while Hacivat is a shortened form of 'Hacı İvaz,' which translates to 'İvaz the Pilgrim.'
What kind of performance features Karagöz and Hacivat?
They star in a shadow puppet theatre in which painted leather figures are projected behind a lit screen. A performer manipulates the puppets and voices their dialogue while telling a comedic story to the audience.
What do Karagöz and Hacivat represent in the plays?
The two characters are deliberately designed as perfect foils, each embodying a different social class and temperament. Their constant bickering and clashing personalities drive the humor and social commentary at the center of every performance.
Where is the Karagöz and Hacivat tradition still performed today?
The shadow play remains most active in Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Adjara autonomous republic in Georgia. In Greece the character is known as Karagiozis, and in Bosnia he goes by Karađoz.
When did Karagöz and Hacivat rise to popularity?
The tradition gained widespread popularity during the Ottoman period and then spread across the former empire's territories. It has since been preserved as a living folk-art form in several of those successor nations.
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