Karagoz and Hacivat

Karagoz and Hacivat is a traditional Turkish shadow play named for its two lead characters. Karagoz, literally Blackeye, plays opposite Hacivat, whose name shortened over time from Hacı Ivaz, meaning Ivaz the Pilgrim. The genre was popularized during the Ottoman period and then spread to most of the nation states that had belonged to the Ottoman Empire, remaining most prominent today in Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Adjara, the autonomous republic in Georgia. The tradition survives locally under regional names for its central character: in Greece he is known as Karagiozis, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina as Karadoz.