18th
I talked to my father today, and he told me an interesting story.
My dad’s parents came to the states from Syria way back when. My dad said that when his dad would come home from work, he would give him a piece of candy and say that the candy was from Aragoz….which is the Arabic name of Karagoz. As you may know, I do a Karagoz shadow puppet show about a gay Syrian Quaker secular humanist Buddhist artist and his trials and tribulations.
Aragoz/Karagoz is a traditional shadow puppet character that probably started in Egypt, migrated to Syria, and then ended up in Greece and Turkey as Karagoz. Aragoz is now know as a hand puppet in Egypt. The shadow tradition still exists in Turkey and Greece but has largely died out in Syria.
I’ve heard that the shadow puppet idea probably got to Egypt via China on the trading routes. No big surprise there.
Anyway, I’ve attached a pic. The character below on the left is Karagoz. In the Turkish/Greek tradition, he wears some dumbass hat. I opted for the fez for my Arab Karagoz…loooks cooler. My dad wore a fez throughout his college years. I am not the only goofball in my family.
