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Official public holidays "New Year's
Day" (January 1) is a holiday to
celebrate the end of the year which has passed
and the beginning of a new year. It has nothing
to do with Christmas with which it is sometimes
confused. This holiday starts in the afternoon of
December 31 and continues until the end of
January 1. People start sending greeting cards
for the coming of the new year from a few weeks
before. Some people send greetings by telephone
only. Buying small gifts for family and friends
is also becoming common. Preparing a variety of
foods, social gatherings and having fun by
playing the most common New Year's game tombala
(bingo), listening to music and watching
television, as TV channels broadcast their best
programs, are among the things enjoyed over this
holiday. Some people prefer traveling, going to
resorts to ski or to places of entertainment on
the New Year's Eve.
There is another
group of people who, under the influence of the
Christian Western world, enjoy themselves with
Christmas celebrations (Christmas trees and
Father Christmas costumes, etc.).
National holidays
From the
nationalistic point of view, these are important
days because they give people the opportunity to
feel and exhibit national unity. On these days
all ceremonial activities are carried out by
official institutions like schools, state
organizations or military forces, and people join
these activities. Preparations in schools or
military places start from a few weeks before
with rehearsals for performances. Students and
others who take part in the parades or shows are
smartly and colorfully dressed. Ceremonies follow
the parades in halls, stadiums or school
courtyards. Poems are recited, and speeches are
given, followed by fireworks or cannon shots.
April 23 is "National
Independence and Children's Day". On
this date in 1920 the Turkish Grand National
Assembly was established in Ankara by Mustafa
Kemal. As this was the written record of the
transition from a religious community to a
nation, this date was accepted as a national
holiday. From 1929 onward it was declared as the
first Children's Day in the World by Kemal
Ataturk, as he acknowledged the importance of
children for the futures of nations.
May 19 is "Ataturk
Commemoration, Youth and Sports Day". On
this date in 1919, Mustafa Kemal set foot on
Anatolia at the Black Sea port of Samsun which
marks the beginning of his organizing the
nationalist forces before the Independence War.
August 30 is
"Victory Day". On this date in
1922, the fifth day of the big attack against the
Greeks, the Dumlupinar Battle under the command
of Mustafa Kemal was won and determined the
result of the Independence War. This big attack
ended in Izmir with the defeat of the Greeks on
September 9.
October 29 is
"Republic Day". The Republic of
Turkey was proclaimed by the Turkish Grand
National Assembly in 1923.
b) Religious holidays
There are two
religious holidays or feasts, the first is Seker
Bayrami (3 days) which comes immediately
after 30 days of fasting in the Ramadan and the
second is Kurban Bayrami (4 days) which
follows 70 days after Seker Bayrami. In Turkish, Bayram
is "feast" or "holiday", seker
is "sweets" and kurban is a
"sacrifice".
The dates of
religious holidays come 10 days earlier each year
because of the difference between the Lunar Year
(354 days) and the Solar Year (365 days).
Although not all the people in Anatolia are
religious, these religious feasts are very
traditional and have become essential. They are
taken as seriously as Christmas is in the
Christian world. People make lots of preparations
in celebration of these feasts like cleaning
houses, shopping, buying feast gifts, new
clothes, sending greeting cards and so forth.
On the first day
of the feast, very early in the morning, people
get up, wash themselves, wear fragrance or
cologne and put on their new clothes. The
majority of the male population go to mosques for
the early morning prayer which is extremely
important. School aged children are also taken to
mosques by their fathers or older relatives in
order to make them acquire the habit of going to
prayers. So many people go to mosques that they
do not fit inside or even in the courtyard. When
this is the case, they take small carpets from
home to mosques, put them in the streets near the
mosque and join in with the service. The Imams
give sermons as this is an opportunity to preach
to so many people together. The dominant subject
these days is peace, and they always try to
encourage brotherhood and general goodwill among
all. After prayers in the mosque everybody gives
feast greeting to each other by shaking hands.
The next stage is at home where feast greetings
continue. In the traditional extended families
these greetings do not take too much time as all
members are at the same place. But in nuclear
families it might take a much longer time.
Couples with their children visit their parents
or grandparents, give gifts, kiss their hands,
and they eat candies or chocolates. Children are
pleased as they are given some pocket money in
addition to candies.
Another place
which should not be missed is a visit to the
cemetery where the deceased members of the family
are buried and need to be remembered. Flowers are
taken and the soil of the grave is watered.
Meanwhile family members read from the Koran in
the name of the deceased.
The main visiting
is over and now it is the time for some
shopkeepers to open shops. Children are eager to
spend their pocket money in grocery shops or
amusement parks. In the following days visits
among friends, neighbors and other relatives will
continue in festive spirit. For people living far
away from their families, feasts are a good
reason to come together so lots of people travel
distances in order to make this possible.
Kurban Bayrami
is the same as Seker Bayrami except the
additional sacrifice as the name of the feast
bears.
The sacrificial
animal, a ram, a goat or any of the cattle will
be made ready to sacrifice and from the first
morning onward, at anytime, will be sacrificed by
one of the members of the family or somebody who
represents him. The meat from the sacrificed
animal is divided into three parts; one for the
poor, one for the neighbors and relatives and the
last is for the family. The sacrificing is
generally done in courtyards of houses or if
these do not exist then it is conducted in
specially arranged public places. People can also
make a donation to the same value of a sacrifice
to a charity instead of doing it themselves.
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