Silk, halva and a dish fit for a king

I first visited Saki in winter 1991. The red roofs of the town, nestled in a valley, were covered with dazzlingly white snow through which smoking chimneys peeped out. I felt as though I were in the 18th century, in a magical town, and caught myself think-ing: “I’ll come back here. I’ll definitely come back. And not just once.” My intuition did not let me down. Many years later I have travelled the length and breadth of Saki, savouring all its charms. And I advise you to do the same. Saki is one of the finest and most unusual parts of Azerbaijan. Saki and its people You have only to say the word “Saki” to prompt a good-natured smile from anyone who has just a passing knowledge of the area. The reason is that the locals are cheerful, resourceful, sharp-tongued and full of positive energy. Saki people cannot be confused with anyone else. Just as Scottish people can be identified straightaway by their English pronunciation, Saki people can be recognized from their first phrase in their native Azerbaijani. Local people are known for their liking for jokes and jokey conversational style. This is why Saki is sometimes called “Azerbaijan’s Gabrovo”. Absolutely everyone here tells jokes – old and young, men and women. When you are in Saki, don’t take of-fence easily. In the land of humour, try to respond to a joke with a joke. Saki people laugh at themselves as well as at others. A half-joking, half-serious Saki-Azerbaijani dictionary has been compiled on the peculiarities of the local dialect and hangs at the entrance to the local History Museum. You cannot help laughing when you read it. An archaeologist is a goresan, literally “someone who rummages about in graves”, a director is a duzub gosan, literally a “doer”, while chicken cooked in wine is kefli beca, “drunk chicken”. Any Azerbaijani can tell you at least one joke about Saki people, whether it is about the local dialect or their stinginess or about how good they are at counting – money, of course. I cannot say that Saki people are mean, but they are certainly very precise in financial matters. Saki dialect, which is amazingly infectious, provides an endless source of jokes. I have noticed that after every trip there I involuntarily begin to speak in the dialect, adding the particle “ha” to the beginning of every word. This reminds me of a joke: “A Saki man sends his son to a remote corner of Russia to learn Russian there. Some time later, the father goes to visit his son to see how he is getting on. When he knocks at the door of the house where his son is staying, the Russian land-lady replies, “Ha indi?” or “Who’s there?” in Saki Azerbaijani. Many famous people were born in Saki. Saki is proud of its sons – the founder of Azerbaijani theatre, Mirza Fatali Axundov, People’s Poet Baxtiyar Vahabzada, author and playwright Sabit Rahman and composer Emin Sabitoglu were born here. Saki architecture Saki was originally founded on the left bank of the River Kis, but after a mud volcano erupted in 1772 it was moved to its current location. The village of Nuxa was close by, so at one time Saki shared its name. It was during this period that that the fortress of Narin Qala was built. The new structure and original appearance of the new town, built in the 18th century, kept their initial appearance right up to the 19th century. Later, relatively modern buildings, constructed with less expenditure of time, effort and money, began to squeeze out the older buildings. Saki’s unique panorama is the result not only of the bewitching beauty of the moun-tain scenery, but of the town’s harmony with nature. All the houses are surrounded by gardens, the yard of every house is surrounded by a fence or wall, while the roofs of all the houses are covered in red tiles, which are not only attractive but keep the homes warm in winter and cool in summer. The wooden gates into the yards of homes are another striking Saki feature. To avoid opening the heavy gates every time, they contain small doors on which unusual bells hang “daqqilbabi”, (literally “mallets”), and not one door, but two, one higher for adults and the other lower for children. In recent years iron gates have come into fashion here and are continuing to spread. Saki people have already come up with a joke about this: “Never mind, one day iron gates will bow before wooden ones too.” The streets of Saki are unique too. The old town is covered in cobblestones. And with good reason. It often rains here. Local people say: “If just a drop falls from heaven, it’s pouring in Saki.” Cobbles hardly wear down, are attractive and cobbled streets gather very little dust. Although it rains a lot in Saki, the town is short of drinking water and it contains very little iodine. If you plan to settle here for some time, then take iodine with you. One interesting fact: in the Soviet era it was common practice to give districts a new name, but many parts of Saki escaped this fate and kept their old names – Gancali, Dirrah, Manqara, Gumbaralar and Dodu. Each of these famous districts has its own character. For example, the national dish piti is made in Dodu, while settlers from the city of Ganca once lived in Gancali. The district of Gumbaralar (Grenades) is said to have got its name because a grenade was once blown up here during an argument. Old Saki Most of Saki’s buildings of historic and architectural interest are concentrated in the upper part of the town, so this area has been declared a reserve. In the reserve, which the locals call Kohna Qala (Old Fortress), it is forbidden to demolish buildings and build new buildings that are not in the appropriate traditional style. Old Saki is surrounded by the 18th-century walls of Narin Qala fortress. The Khan’s Palace, which is here, was built in 1762 during the reign of Huseyn Khan. As the name makes clear, this was the residence of the ruler of the independent Saki khanate. The palace is considered an outstanding example of medieval Azerbaijani architec-ture, unique in the world. Thousands of tiny pieces of glass were used to create the colourful effect we know as “sabaka” – they were stuck by hand into a wooden lattice without the use of nails or glue. Legend has it that when the palace was completed, the khan, enchanted by its beauty, ordered that the craftsman’s hands be cut off so that he could not make its like again. There is a workshop near this unique building where the ancient art of sabaka making has been revived and visitors can watch the craftsmen in action. Crafts in Saki Sabaka is a decorative, applied art that requires a very high degree of skill. A distin-guishing feature is that neither nails nor glue are used in making the mosaic. The main designs in sabaka are geometric shapes, in which circles, polygons and stars predomi-nate. The sabaka workshop takes private orders. Prices are quite high, as everything is done by hand and takes a lot of time. For example, it takes two months to make an average-sized window and this will cost at least 800 manats. But you can choose a small souvenir. Saki craftsmen will meet any order with the precision of a jeweller. Their main customers are local and foreign private clients. The secrets of the craft are passed down from generation to generation and are a source of pride for Saki people. If you visit Saki between 10 and 20 July, you can go to the traditional Saki craft fair. The fair lasts two to three days and craftsmen display their wares on the town square. You can buy various hand-made domestic items here which make unusual souvenirs. For example, master hatters make different styles of hat from leather. Prices depend on the style and quality of the material. Prices for a cylindrical “daqqa” sheep’s wool hat start at 80 manats. Saki silk Back in the 1st century BC Saki was at the crossroads of trade routes and as a result has always been a major stopping-off point for merchants. Part of the historic Silk Road passed this way. Travellers stopped in Saki to rest and visited the local bazaars. From ancient times Saki was famous for its silk, which was in great demand in the Middle East, Europe and India. Carpets woven here did not lag behind silk either. Silk carpets were famed for their delicacy, elegance and beauty. These carpets were twice as expensive as wool carpets of the same size, which is to be expected, as it took twice as long to weave a silk carpet. A silk carpet in a house was a sign of a householder’s fine taste, but many could not afford one. Another famous souvenir of Saki is a kalagayi, a traditional woman’s headscarf made from silk. It was widespread in the silk producing areas. The scarves are traditionally woven on standard Sarbaf looms, 140 cm by 140 cm. At one time men wove silk. The woven silk fabric was given to dyers who used different plant dyes to colour the cloth. A kalagayi may wear out with age, but will not lose its colour. After dying, the kala-gayi was dried and various patterns were stamped upon it. Nowadays all silk items, including kalagayi, are made at the Saki silk mill. Samples of the mill’s work can be bought at the mill shop. Hand-made kalagayi can be found in the village of Basqal in Ismayilli District. But we’ll talk about this in the section on Ismayilli. Saki’s culinary delights An historic 19th-century mill continues to operate on the bank of the River Kis in the Dodu district. It is famous as it is the only historic monument that is still working. It grinds wheat, oats and mainly rice. The main customers are the master halva makers. Everyone knows and loves Saki halva, but few people know that it is made from rice flour with only nuts added. Every district in Saki has its own halva shop. Many make it in small workshops in the courtyards of their own homes and offer it for sale. Some halva masters have now become brands in their own right. Mahmud Halva and Ali Ahmad Halva have been made by families for over 100 years. When you go into a shop, you can sample the product you are about to buy. Halva makers sell not only halva, but many other types of sweet which are served with tea in Saki. They include sweet barama or cocoons, multi-coloured nogul, almonds with milk and saffron, sugar with nuts, almonds fried in butter and many other delicacies. Private orders are taken for special events. A dish fit for a king Saki cooking occupies a special place amongst the regional centres of traditional Azerbaijani cuisine, while the king of Saki dishes is piti. It is cooked in specially made, small clay pots, called “piti dopusu”. “Dopu” is one portion for one person. Piti is made from lamb (breast or leg) – Saki chefs are con-vinced that beef is not suitable for this dish. It is cooked for eight to nine hours. It’s a very filling dish, so best eaten at midday. After midday you won’t find any piti in Saki ready to eat. Piti is eaten in an unusual way too. It is eaten with old bread and onion and sumakh, a slightly spicy pepper, is an essential condiment. It must also be eaten in a special way. First the bread (yesterday’s if not older) is broken into small pieces, placed on a plate and sumakh is sprinkled over it, then the liquid part of the piti is poured onto the bread from the dopu. The onion is squeezed or cut into four pieces. Once the first part of the dish is finished, the second part of the operation begins. The lamb and chickpeas are tipped from the dopu onto the plate, sumakh is sprinkled over them and salt and pepper according to taste and then they are mashed together into a puree. Only then are they eaten, again with bread and onion. This is the only way in which piti is cooked and eaten. Saki people say that piti made in any other way is not piti. At any rate, in order to appreciate the difference, do not leave Saki without trying piti. Tourist paradise Saki is a paradise for tourists. Locals call the tourists “guests”. Don’t be surprised if people greet you on the street. You are considered a “guest” and welcomed. Saki’s bewitching scenery was famous back in Soviet times. Even then, when tourism was less developed, a branch of the USSR Tourism Committee operated in Saki. People came from all over the Soviet Union to the tourism and visitor centre, Soyuq Bulaq, which was opened in 1980. There are many places in Saki which it would be a sin to miss. More about this next time.