Love Knots (or Love Knits?)

Ah, old-fashioned romance. Who doesn't still believe in it? And some love stories just never grow old as I saw for myself when I trekked through a teeny little village in Camlibel, Edremit in the Northern Aegean region. There were dozens of these hanging from a post:

At first they look like pieces of different coloured yarn twisted into charms with little gold discs. When I looked closer, they were actually for sale as souvenirs. I was told they were talismans of love and called 'Yazgara'.

Back in the days when love fed on a strict diet of blushes, secretive glances and coded words, girls in this village would make and wear these as a symbol of their maiden status. When she wanted to wed and chose her man, perhaps after following the above diet, she would give him her Yazgara. Once the proud fellow showed this off to his friends it meant that no-one else could ask for her hand and she was his. Beautiful.