FEAST OF RAMADAN

What is Ramadan? Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, and is the fourth pillar out of the ‘five pillars’ of Islam. For Muslims, Ramadan is the holiest of months. It is when they believe that their holy book, the Quran, was given to them through the Prophet Muhammad During this time, Muslims will not eat or drink between during daylight hours. This is known as fasting.

During this month, Muslims fast from sunshine to sunset.

We have some activities!!!

HACİVAT AND KARAGÖZ

Macun/candy

FEAST OF RAMADAN The Sweet Feast or feast of Ramadan (Şeker Bayramı ) is the three day festival following Ramadan.

What Does sugar feast (Şeker Bayramı) Mean for the Locals? 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.

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 is called bayramlık.

The three days people visit relatives and friends, and may also go to the graveyards to pay their respect to the deceased.

During the sweet Feast it is important to honor the elderly; therefore mostly the younger generation visit the older ones. Kissing the right hand of the elderly and placing it on the forehead is a custom to show respect and greet them for the bayram. People greet each other by saying Bayramınız Kutlu/Mübarek Olsun, meaning “May Your Feast Be Blessed”.

One of favorites of the Ramadan Feast s t tradition is children going around in their neighborhood, from door to door and wishing people a happy feast ‘Eid mubarek’. 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.