Karagiozis

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Karagiozis (Greek: Καραγκιόζης, from Turkish: Karagöz) is a marionette and fictional character of Greek traditional folklore inspired from a Turkish counterpart who was known as Karagöz. He is the main character of the tales narrated in the Greek theatre of shadows. Karagöz in Turkish means 'black-eyed', and it is the origin of this character's name.

1 Origins
2 Scenario
3 The characters
4 The marionette
5 Modern incarnations
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Origins

The art of the Theatre of Shadows was originally oriental. Today scholars generally consider the technique of a single puppeteer creating voices for a dialogue, narrating a story and possibly even singing while manipulating puppets, an Indonesian invention.

There are several stories of how shadow theater was established in Asia Minor. Some believe the Turks were influenced by the Gypsies who came from India, while others claim that they were influenced by the Chinese at the time when the Turks were still nomadic tribes. Whatever the case, it is worthwhile to mention that regardless of religious restrictions, shadow theater became more widespread around the 16th century among the Muslim Turks.

Karagiozis seems to have come to mainland Greece, probably from Asia Minor (Anatolia) in the 19th century, during Ottoman rule. Originally, his popular appeal was his scatalogical language and protruding phallus. It is still performed in Turkey, especially during Ramadan celebrations, under the same name.

The genre became a fully integrated, though adapted, amongst the Greek population. But there are several legends as well as studies surrounding Karagiozis's arrival and subsequent popularity in Greece. Some stories say that Greek merchants brought the art from China and others say that it was a Greek who created the "legend" during Ottoman rule for the entertainment of the sultan. Yet others believe that it originated from real events involving two masonry workers named Karagöz and Haci Ivat (pronounced Hadji Ivat) working in the construction of a mosque in the city of Bursa in early 14th century.

[edit] Scenario

Karagiozis is a poor hunchbacked Greek, his right hand is always depicted long, his clothes are botched, and his feet are always bare. He lives in a poor cottage with his wife Aglaia and his three boys, during the times of the Ottoman Empire. The scene (called Karagoz Perde) is occupied by his cottage in the left, and the Sultan's Palace (Sarayi) on the far right.

Because of his poverty, Karagiozis uses mischievous and crude ways to find money and feed his family.

Students of folklore divide Karagiozis' tales in two major categories: the 'Heroics' and the 'Comedies'. The Heroics are tales based on tradition or real stories involving the times under Ottoman rule, and Karagiozis is presented as a helper and assistance of an important hero.

Puppeteers devise their own original tales, however there are many 'traditional' tales that have descended orally from earlier puppeteers and are accepted as 'canon' with slight alterations between the players. Most of the are formulaic and have the following layout but with a wide improvisional variety, and often involving interaction with the audience:

Karagiozis appears in the scene with his 3 sons dancing and singing. He welcomes the audience [1]and has a comical dialogue with his children. He then enters his cottage
The Vizier or a local Ottoman lord reports that he has a problem and needs someone to perform a deed
Haci Ivat obeys and starts announcing the news until Karagiozis hears about it
Initially annoyed by Haci Ivat's shouting, he finds it's an opportunity to gain money (either by helping the Vizier or not) and sometimes asks Haci Ivat to aid him.
Karagiozis either attempts to help the Vizier or fool him. The regular characters (see below) appear one at a time in the scene (they often appear with an introducing song which is standard for each of them); Karagiozis has a funny dialogue with them, mocks them, fools them, or becomes annoyed and ousts them violently.
Finally, Karagiozis is either rewarded by the Vizier or his mischief is revealed and he's punished.

Some of the most known tales are:

Alexander the Great and the accursed snake
Karagiozis the doctor
Karagiozis the cook
Karagiozis the senator
Karagiozis the scholar
Karagiozis the prophet

[edit] The characters

Karagiozis, is a trickster poor Greek man whose sole interest is sleep and eating. Socially, he is in closer relation to Hadji Ivat (Greek: Hadjiavatis) than any other characters, and often he is informed by him, sometimes they cooperate in business, but sometimes Hadjiavatis is a victim of Karagiozis' tricks.
Kollitiria, Karagiozis' three kids. Some versions give their names as Kollitiri, Kopritis and Birikokos.
Aglaia, Karagiozis' wife.
Hadjivatis, (the Turkish counterpart is Hacivat) he is Karagiozis' friend and sidekick, an honest and serious figure but often ends up being wrapped up in Karagiozis' schemes. He has a tendency to flatter the powerful and his name in Greece is associated with the "eternally compliant person towards the occupying and dominant establishment".
Barba Yorgos (Uncle George), he represents the original Greek from the mountains, uncontaminated by urban trends; he is usually on some business related visit in the lowlands, he is a Vlach from Rumeli in mainland Greece, always depicted broad built with traditional outfit, is crude and very strong. Even though he believes his nephew to be a "lupoditis" (crook pronounced in the Roumeliot fashion), he helps him out and beats all the opponents black and blue with his staff.
Stavrakas, a cowardly bully, whose puppet is the only one with a long independent arm, like Karagiozis. He represents the "mangas" culture prevalent in Pireus and the Rebetiko tradition. Karagiozis usually teases him.
Sior Dionysios, an Italianate gentleman from Zakynthos of imagined aristocratic stock. Faithfull to his Ionian Islands origin, he sings cantades and speaks the Ionian Greek dialect with the appropriate accent.
Morfonios, a European bred softie; he is very ugly with a huge head with an extremely large nose; however, he considers himself to be handsome and keeps falling in love.
Solomon, a Jew, one of the less known characters.
Vizier, also called Pasha in some versions, he is the dominant figure of the occupying side and lives in the Sarai. He is usually the beginning of each new tale, by announcing trials, deeds, tests etc to which Karagiozis always decides to involve
Fatme (or Scherin), is the Vizier or Pasha's beautiful daughter.
Veli Gekas, an Albanian guard of the Sarai, often hits Karagiozis. He is the executive arm of the Pasha.

Some players have introduced other characters, like Karagiozis's old father.

[edit] The marionette

Karagiozis, as well as all the figures that represent the characters of his tales, are two dimensional and designed always in profile. They were traditionally made from camel skin. The torso, waist, feet and sometimes the limbs, were separate pieces that were joined together with pins. Most figures were composed of two parts, torso and feet, with only one joint to the waist. Two characters, the Jew and Morfonios had joints in the neck, and had a flexible head.

They were moved with a stick attached to them, except in the case of the figure of Karagiozis and a few other characters whose arms or other limbs required separate movement. The 'scene' was a vertical white parapet, usually a cloth, called 'perde' (curtain). Between the figures and the player (who was invisible), were candles or lamps that shed light to the figures and made their silhouettes and colours visible to the audience through the cloth.

[edit] Modern incarnations

Conrad, also known as Karaghiosis, the protagonist of Roger Zelazny's ...And Call Me Conrad (also known as This Immortal), which won the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Novel, is partially inspired by this character.

In Greek daily speech, the name Karagiozis is also used as an insult more or less like 'Joker'. Puppeteers complain about this, saying that Karagiozis is violent, mischievous, a liar and an anti-hero, but is also good-natured and faithful, so his name should not be used as an insult.

During the decade of 1980, Greek Television had Karagiozis shows on a weekly basis. These shows had more modern themes, like for example Karagiozis living some myths of Greek mythology or visiting the moon and other planets. Some of these episodes were either live with an audience, or filmed especially for the TV show and contained scenes that required editing or special effects.

Since the 2000s, Karagiozis is not so popular as a choice of recreation for young kids and the number of puppeteers has diminished. Today, he is performed mostly in folk feasts or festivals and on national Greek television. There are also occasional tours in the Greek diaspora.