RAMADAN FEAST IN TURKEY

RAMADAN İS A TİME FOR MUSLİMS TO FAST (DURİNG DAYLİGHT HOURS) FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH AND TO OFFER MORE PRAYER THAN USUAL. DURİNG RAMADAN, MUSLİMS ASK FORGİVENESS FOR PAST SİNS, PRAY FOR GUİDANCE AND HELP İN REFRAİNİNG FROM EVERYDAY EVİLS, AND TRY TO PURİFY THEMSELVES THROUGH SELF-RESTRAİNT AND GOOD DEEDS.

During Ramadan in Turkey Muslims are tradititonally woken for their pre-dawn meal by drummers who take to the streets.This tadition is really important for Muslims.

KARAGÖZ-HACIVAT PLAYS ARE ESPECIALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE RAMADAN IN TURKEY. KARAGÖZ AND HACIVAT  ARE THE LEAD CHARACTERS OF THE TRADITIONAL TURKISH SHADOW PLAY, POPULARIZED DURING THE OTTOMAN PERIOD . THE CENTRAL THEME OF THE PLAYS ARE THE CONTRASTING INTERACTION BETWEEN THE TWO MAIN CHARACTERS. THEY ARE PERFECT FOILS OF EACH OTHER.

Every day fasting starts at sahur (a meal taken just before dawn during Ramadan) And finishes at iftar..During daytime, We mustn’t eat and drink.

The Ramadan Feast in Turkey is a time for visiting relatives and paying one’s respect to older people. Many Turks give away sweets and desserts during the festival, and children may watch free Turkish shadow plays.

RAMADAN A RELIGIOUS HOLIDAY.  IT REFERS TO THE RESTORATION OF ONE’S BEST HUMAN COMPOSITION AND THE CELEBRATION OF THE END OF THE THIRTY DAYS OF FASTING DURING RAMADAN.

People clean their houses, they go shopping for candies and chocolate, they prepare traditional pastries like baklava, get a haircut and perform similar personal maintenance. It is important to look dashing with recently, special for the occasion purchased clothes. This attire iscalled bayramlık.

During this three day celebration the flow of life changes drastically. For locals it means holiday since schools, government offices, banks and even the private establishments are closed for three and a half days starting from noon the eve (arife) of the holiday. Arife is the day to get ready for the holiday.

As a prophetic tradition, the obligatory charity , is paid to the poor and the needy. Afterwards, the men perform the Bayram (Eid) prayer in their neighborhood mosques. The rest of the three days people visit relatives and friends, and may also go to the graveyards to pay their respect to the deceased.

One of the favorites of the Sugar Feast is the tradition of children going around in their neighborhood, from door to door and wishing people a happy bayram. As a reward, they receive candies, chocolates, or even a small amount of money. It makes the streets even busier with cheerful gangs of kids running around, counting their revenues.

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