Ramadan ends and Bayram begins

I was privileged to be in Istanbul for Ramadan and Bayram last year.  

During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sundown to sunset.  However, the elderly, sick, travellers, labourers and young children are not expected to observe the fasting.  I was fascinated to learn that the drum I heard beating loudly from my hotel room, at about 3am, was to inform those who were observing Ramadan that the sun would soon be rising so it was time to get up and eat.  It seems a young person would perform this ritual a hour or two before sunset in every community. 

I observed, fascinated, as families would come together in restaurants, close to sunset, waiting for the azan to call the fourth prayer of the day.  Children waited patiently for their parents to signal the start of feasting.  Adults first drank ayran (a salted, yogurt drink) or water, a gentle way to break a fast, but  not all children wanted to “waste time” drinking – they sated their appetites with the delicious, fresh salads, bread and meats on their tables.

Immediately following the month of fasting is Bayram Seker – a ten day public holiday of feasting and celebration.  Turkish families take this time to reunite and reconnect with long-distance relatives and to enjoy the sweet treats associated with Bayram. 

It is customary for people to greet one another with “Bayram?n?z Kutlu Olsun” (“May Your Bayram Be Celebrated”), “Mutlu Bayramlar” (“Happy Bayram”), or the more quaint “Bayram?n?z Mübarek Olsun” (May Your Bayram Be Holy”, i.e. “Holy Bayram Upon You”), while enjoying a number of local customs.

It is a time for people to attend services, put on their best clothes (referred to as “Bayraml?k”, often purchased just for the occasion) and to visit all their loved ones (such as friends, relatives and neighbors) and pay their respects to the deceased with organized visits to cemeteries, where large, temporary bazaars of flowers, water (for watering the plants adorning a grave), and prayer books are set up for the first three days of the holiday.

It is especially important to honour elderly citizens by kissing their right hand and placing it on one’s forehead while wishing them Bayram greetings.  Somewhat like Halloween, it is also customary for young children to go around their neighborhood, door to door, and wish everyone a happy Bayram, for which they are awarded sweet treats such as candy, chocolate, traditional sweets such as Baklava and Turkish Delight, or a small amount of money at every door.

Municipalities around Turkey organize fundraising events for the poor, in addition to public shows such as concerts or more traditional forms of entertainment such as the Karagoz and Hacivat shadow-theatre and  performances by the Mehter – Janissary Band that was founded during the days of the Ottoman Empire.

Helping the less fortunate, ending past animosities and making up, organizing breakfasts and dinners for loved ones and putting together neighborhood celebrations are all part of the joyous occasion, where homes and streets are decorated and lit up for the celebrations, and television and radio channels continuously broadcast a variety of special programs, which include movie specials, musical programming and celebratory addresses from celebrities and politicians alike.

Turkish Daily News reports that northwestern parts of Turkey will be particularly damp during the first few days of Bayram, which starts after the holy month Ramadan ends this coming Tuesday,

Temperatures will decrease 2 to 4 degrees Celsius throughout Turkey over the weekend, according to State Meteorological Affairs General Director Mehmet Ça?lar.

Turkey will experience cloudy weather in general, Ça?lar said. Black Sea, east of Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, as well as the southeastern provinces of Diyarbak?r, Ad?yaman and Kahramanmara?, will have showery rain on the first day of Bayram. The rest of the country will be partly cloudy.

 “From Tuesday, northern Anatolia will warm up 1 to 3 degrees and reach the seasonal average. Southern parts of the country will remain above the seasonal average, reaching 26 or 27 degrees,” he said.

 Ça?lar briefed journalists Friday, a day before the long-waited opportunity to take nine consecutive days off   “and on the third day of Bayram, we will have similar weather conditions,” Ça?lar said.

Ramadan occurs 13 days earlier each year and will therefore start mid-August in 2009.