Culture
Hemshinli are well known for the clever jokes, riddles, and stories that they tell. Some of the anecdotes that the Muslim Hemshinli tell are actually based on older Armenian ones. They accompany dances with their own brand of music using the tulum (the Pontic bagpipe) (for the Western group), the şimşir kaval (flute made of buxus) (for the Eastern group) or the Hamshna-Zurna (Hamsheni zurna) (for the Northern group). The traditional occupations of the Turkish Hemshinli are cultivating tea and maize, breeding livestock, and beekeeping. The Northern Hamshenis of Russia and Georgia, meanwhile, are primarily known as citrus, corn, tobacco and tea growers as well as fishermen. Some Hemshinli (both Muslim and Christian) are also active in economic life as expert bakers, restaurateurs, and transporters, and those in Turkey developed a keen and nationally renowned expertise in the production of crafted handguns. The Hemshen people and their mansions were featured in issue twelve of Cornucopia Magazine.
Read more about this topic: Hemshin Peoples
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