The first performances and the banquet for the Janissary corps

 

22a

 

21b

In (21b) we see depicted the first entertaining performances put on after the reception formalities were done with. The sultan is sitting cross-legged on a carpet near the right edge of the frame and is accompanied by eight pages standing four to a side. One the princes is shown peering out over his father’s shoulder. The grand vizier is also sitting cross-legged beneath an awning near the upper left corner and is accompanied by two officers. The center of the frame is occupied by two sackers. (Two more appear at the lower right just behind the vehicle.) To quote Vehbi (5b):

Dressed like strangely-garbed shepherds carrying sacks under their arms, these men were called "sackers". Comical in appearance and demeanor, they were charged with repelling those who broke through the line and intruded into the parade-ground and, when necessary, to open the way through the festival’s spectators not by means of force or intimidating cudgels or pursuit but rather by wielding their oil-filled sacks against them and driving them away. For each of them, the superintendent of the procession had a costume made up consisting of a stout leather jacket, a pointed cap, baggy pants, and such other accessories as complemented their ludicrous appearance and to each man was given a specific rank and duty.

At the left are the two acrobats–Hajji Şahin and Hajji Mehmed–whom Ali Pasha, the governor of Egypt, had sent to İstanbul for the festival. The figures at the bottom of the image are members of the Artillerymen’s corps dressed up in Persian costume and wearing ludicrous masks and caps resembling the ones worn by Kalenderi dervishes. They are carrying "maces" whose oversized heads are fashioned from blue and gilded paper. According to Vehbi, these maces were used in a mock combat. Leading their bizarre procession is the figure of an ostrich, a mechanical contraption that flapped its wings as it walked. Bringing up the rear is an elaborately decorated cart containing life-like dummies with concealed mechanisms that caused them to swing their arms left and right as the cart moved.

In the banquet scene (22a) we see janissaries "swooping in upon the trays of food like crested hawks descending upon partridges and canaries and ravishing them with such appetite that one might have supposed that there would be no need for the dishwashers to roll up their sleeves and go to the trouble of washing the trays afterwards." (Vehbi, 18b-19a.)

Notes

1. Sackers: Tulumcu. They seem to have been a regular feature of Ottoman festivals and were apparently an effective method of crowd control. To quote Vehbi (5b):

Dressed like strangely-garbed shepherds carrying sacks under their arms, these men were called "sackers". Comical in appearance and demeanor, they were charged with repelling those who broke through the line and intruded into the parade-ground and, when necessary, to open the way through the festival’s spectators not by means of force or intimidating cudgels or pursuit but rather by wielding their oil-filled sacks against them and driving them away. For each of them, the superintendent of the procession had a costume made up consisting of a stout leather jacket, a pointed cap, baggy pants, and such other accessories as complemented their ludicrous appearance and to each man was given a specific rank and duty.

Despite the phrase "oil-filled sacks", the text and events of Surname make it clear that at least some of the sacks were filled with water instead.

2. Kalenderi dervishes: Mendicant dervishes with a reputation for a bohemian lifestyle.

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