TURKISH CULTURE

Kurban Bayrami - The Festival of Sacrifice

In Turkey, bayrams are very important times. In terms of the emphasis put on the bayrams, you can compare
them with the Christmas in Christian countries. However, their content and the way they are celebrated have some
important differences from Christmas. In this article, I will try to give all the fundamental information you will need
in order to understand what the Kurban Bayramı is all about and I will help you go through this four-day festival
proving your Turkish friends how well you know their culture.

We will start with covering the basics of this bayram, its origin and meaning. Then we will cover some customs
common to both Kurban Bayramı and Ramazan Bayramı. The Turkish phrases you will need for the bayram and their
meanings will be covered under this topic. After that, we will see the customs that are specific to the Kurban Bayramı.

Basics - How did it Start?

Bayrams are religious holidays, so their roots are in the religion, Islam. According to Islamic rules, every
adult Muslim wealthy enough has to sacrifice a farm animal in the Kurban Bayramı for God. The definition of 'who is
wealthy' is done in some level of detail by the religious authorities, but I won't go into those topics here. This
sacrifice on the occasion of Kurban Bayramı is obligatory for Muslims and not doing it is considered as a sin. It can be
said that this sacrifice is the symbol of the readiness of the sacrificer to sacrifice and lay down all his interests and
desires in the cause of God.

The offer of sacrifice for God dates back to times before Prophet Muhammed and the birth of Islam. Therefore,
this yearly sacrifice was performed before Muslims. The foundation of this act goes back to Prophet Ibrahim
(Abraham). Prophet Ibrahim was put to a tough test by God to prove the strength of his faith. In his dream, God
speaks to him and asks him to sacrifice his son Ismail (who also becomes a prophet later). Ibrahim tells this to his
son Ismail, and Ismail tells him to do what God wanted him to do. Prophet Ibrahim takes his son to Mount Mina near
Mecca to do his offering to God. Prophet Ibrahim is ready to sacrifice his son for God, and his son Ismail is ready to
die for God. However, before the sacrifice takes place, God sends a goat with his angel Gabriel and tells Ibrahim that
he passed the test of God. Prophet Ibrahim is then asked to sacrifice the goat instead of his son as the sign of his
loyalty to God. Since that day, the offer of sacrifice to God is performed by the followers of Prophet Ibrahim and the
other Prophets following him.

The time of Kurban Bayramı is determined based on the moon calendar. Since the moon year is ten days shorter
than the year based on the sun, the time of Kurban Bayramı goes back ten days every year. It lasts for four days and
this time overlaps with the time of Haj (visiting the Kaba in Mecca). This year, in 2005, Kurban Bayramı will be
celebrated from January 20th to January 23rd. You can calculate the following years simply by subtracting ten days
from this date for each year passed.

Kurban Bayrami - General Bayram Customs

There are customs common to both bayrams, Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı. In this section, we will
go through these briefly.

Remembering the Ancestors

On the day of bayram's eve (the day before bayram starts), people go to graveyards to visit the graves of the lost
ones and pray for their souls. It is common to take children along to give them the feeling of respect for the lost ones.

Bayram Prayer

On the first day of the bayrams, early in the morning (a little after sunrise), all the Muslims go to mosques to do
the bayram prayer. This is very common in Turkey, even the people who don't pray at other times generally go to the
bayram prayer. This is the common way to start the bayram. After the prayer, which takes about 15 minutes, people
gather outside to celebrate each other's bayrams and maybe chat a little. In Kurban Bayramı, the sacrifice can be
done after this prayer.

Buying Gifts?

People don't buy gifts to each other in bayrams. Instead, it is common to buy new clothes to especially children for
the bayram. This makes bayrams even more important for children since they wear their new clothes in the morning,
go to prayer with their families and feel the freshness and joy of the bayram.
 Visiting Relatives

One very important part of the bayrams is family and friend visits, especially the visits to the older members of
the family. Large families commonly come all together at the house of the grandparents. This is a time to see the
missed relatives and to close the gap between the members of the family before it grows too large.

It is an important custom to kiss the people that are at least one generation older than you in these bayram visits.
This is another opportunity for the children to enjoy the bayram, since old people generally give money to little
children who kiss their hands.

Turkish Phrases that you will Need for the Bayram

Now that we know the basics of the bayram and what it is all about, we can start learning some useful words and
phrases we can use on these days. Note that the parts in brackets are for plural or formal use.

Bayramın (Bayramınız) kutlu olsun. Have a happy bayram.

Bayramın (Bayramınız) mübarek olsun. Have a blessed bayram.

İyi bayramlar. Happy bayram.

Bayram namazı Bayram prayer

Bayramlık Clothes bought and worn for bayram

Kurban Bayrami - Kurban Bayrami

Customs

In this section, we will go through the customs performed specifically on Kurban Bayramı. The most obvious
one, and the one that distinguishes Kurban Bayramı from Ramazan Bayramı is the offering of the sacrifice.

Sacrificing a Farm Animal

As we said, every adult Muslim that is wealthy enough has to offer a sacrifice to God on this bayram. One
individual can sacrifice a sheep or goat that is older than one year old. However, larger animals like cows or camels
can be shared between up to seven people and they must be older than two years old. Very sick, defected or pregnant
animals are not accepted for sacrifice.

What is the Reasoning?

The meat from the sacrificed animal is consumed during the four day festival and later on. When one sacrifices
an animal, one third of the meat is kept for the household, one third is consumed with friends and relatives, and the
remaining one third are distributed to poor people who can't afford a sacrifice at this time. Therefore, bayrams are
times for remembering the obligations to God, getting together with with family members and friends, and sharing.

Nasreddin Hodja

Who is Nasreddin Hodja?

There are many stereotypes about which Turkish jokes are told such as Bektashi jokes, Laz jokes, and Nasreddin
Hodja Jokes. Here, I will mainly talk about the most traditional and witty one, Nasreddin Hodja.

Nasreddin Hodja

Nasreddin Hodja is an important cultural icon in Turkey. Everybody knows him and can tell you at least couple
of his jokes. Nasreddin Hodja actually lived in Aksehir, Turkey in the 13th century. His father was the village imam in
their village, and Nasreddin Hodja took after the duty after his father's death. He is also known to teach lessons at
the village school and to act as the kadı (judge that resolves the issues between people) at the same time.

Since he is very famous and there are not enough written documents about him from his time, facts about
Nasreddin Hodja are definitely mixed with some myths as well. Looking at his jokes, we can tell many things about
Hodja. He was an imam (religious leader that leads prayer at the mosque), teacher and kadı (judge). He was husband
to a wife and he was pretty poor, struggling with the difficulties of life in different ways. He often had a hard time to
support his family, and tried several jobs for this. He was honest, if we don't count the little tricks he played once in a
while. Lastly, he had a donkey that was an important part of his life and his jokes.

Jokes of Nasreddin Hodja take their topics from the simple daily village life of the 13th century, but many jokes
contain wit and humor of universal value. He sometimes does foolish things, sometimes acts weird but always comes
to a smart and funny conclusion that makes you smile and think at the same time. On the next page, there are some
Nasreddin Hodja Jokes, samples from the large pool of jokes about him.

Nasreddin Hodja - Sample Jokes

Calendar

Every month of Ramadan, Nasreddin Hodja had the habit of putting a pebble in an earthenware jug each morning
to mark the days of fasting. Whenever he wanted to know what day of Ramadan it was, he would take the pebbles
out and count them. However, one day his mischievous son saw his father's jug in the kitchen and put two handfuls of
pebbles in it.

A few days later, a friend stopped by to chat with Hodja. After some conversing, the topic came to Ramadan.

'Hodja Effendi, do you know what day of Ramadan it is today?' asked the friend.

'Wait a minute,' the Hodja said, 'I have been marking them, I'll look it up and tell you, exactly.' Nasreddin Hodja went
to the kitchen, took out all the pebbles from the jug and counted them. There were 149 pebbles. The Hodja knew this
couldn't be right.

When he came back to the sitting room, he told his friend that it was the 49th of Ramadan.

'Hodja Effendi,' the friend was baffled, 'it can't be the 49th of Ramadan. That's not possible!'

'My dear friend,' the Hodja smiled, 'you better believe me, because if you believe the jug instead, today is the149th of
Ramadan!'

Holy Man's Advice

'Hodja Effendi, you are supposed to be a man of religion. But you never talk about the verses of Koran, you
never mention hadiths, you never participate in discussions of the Islamic faith. What kind of a hodja are you?'

'Well then, I will talk to you about Islam. Do you know the Great Holy Man Ikrimah? Do you know his most important
two admonitions for Muslim Brotherhood? Holy Ikrimah Effendi has two very prominent admonitions that all Muslims
must know by heart."

'So what are these two admonitions, Hodja Effendi?'

'One of these admonitions, the Holy Ikrimah Effendi forgot to tell me. The other one he did tell me, but that one I
can't remember.'

Arabic

Nasreddin Hodja had just arrived from his trip to Arabia. All neighbours and friends gathered in the Hodja's
house to welcome him and to listen to the adventures of his voyage.

'Hodja Effendi, did you learn any Arabic?' they asked.

'I did learn some Arabic, yes indeed.'

'So tell us, in Arabia, what do they call an elephant?'

'You asked a very big one. I can't be expected to know such big ones.' the Hodja dismissed.

'What do they call a flea?'

'That's too small. I don't know such small ones.'

'Then what do they call a lamb?'

'They don't call a lamb, they wait until it grows and becomes a sheep, then they call it "ganem".'

Literal Donkey

One day Timur was in the mood for teasing Nasreddin Hodja.

'Hodja,' he asked, 'can you teach your donkey how to read?

'Yes I can Great Timur.'

'Come now Hodja! How can you teach a donkey to read?'

'If you give me three years time and 3000 gold coins, then I can teach my donkey how to read.' the Hodja was
adamant.

'But if in three years time, your donkey cannot read, then I will punish you most severely for trying to mock the Great
Timur.'

Nasreddin Hodja and Timur agreed on the terms, the Hodja took the 3000 gold coins and left Timur's luxurious tent.
Hodja's friends who witnessed the deal were incredulous.

'Hodja Effendi, what did you do? You know you can't teach a donkey anything other than braying. Three years later
Timur will have your head chopped off!' However, Nasreddin Hodja was not worried.

'My dear fellows,' he said calmly, 'before three years are up, either I will die or Timur will die. Or else, the donkey will
die!'

Account Book

The chief of police of Aksehir was a corrupt man who had made a fortune by receiving bribes. One day Timur
asked him to bring his books in for examination. Nasreddin Hodja was present at this interview as well. When Timur
saw the improbable amount of possessions listed in the chief's accounts, he got very upset. He ripped each page of
the accounts and made the chief of police eat them. Nasreddin Hodja watched in horror.

Next, Timur asked the Hodja to collect the taxes of Aksehir and present them to him accompanied by a good list
of how much is collected from whom. Nasreddin Hodja took this task very seriously, collected the taxes and kept
accurate accounts. Then he asked his wife to bake a large pita bread. When the pita was ready, the Hodja wrote his
numbers on it and presented it to Timur along with the collected money.

'Hodja, what is this?' asked Timur, 'Why are your numbers on a pita bread?'

'Great Timur, I did so just in case you would make me eat my accounts too.'

New Turkish Lira - Value and Conversion

After suffering from long years of high inflation rates approaching 100% in some years, Turkish economy is now
in a better shape and inflation has fallen to single digit numbers. In these years of high inflation, the value of the
monetary unit, Turkish Lira fell sharply and it finally became the least valuable monetary unit in the world. At the
least valuable state of the Turkish Lira, one American dollar was equal to about one point eight million Turkish Liras.
It is dramatic when you write this in numbers:

1 USD = 1.800.000 TL

The largest bill printed in this period was the twenty million TL bill which is still in use. Since the economy is
getting better and inflation rates are lower since the last a few years, the Turkish government is removing six zeros
from the Turkish money. Starting from January 1st, 2005, the New Turkish Lira (YTL) will replace the Turkish Lira
(TL). For one year, both Turkish Lira and New Turkish Lira will be in use and this one year will serve as the transition
period to get used to the new monetary magnitude. One New Turkish Lira will now be one million Turkish Liras. We
won't be carrying millions in our pockets and billions in our bank accounts from now on, good bye to being a
billionaire.

1 YTL = 1.000.000 TL

After the one year transition period is complete, starting from January 1st, 2006, the New Turkish Lira will be
the only Turkish monetary unit being used in the market starting from this date. The smaller unit of Lira, called Kuruş
(koo-roosh), was not being used for the last several years but Kuruş will be back with this new arrangement. It will
be called Yeni Kuruş (yeh-NEE koo-roosh, New Kuruş) until 2006 and the name will change back to Kuruş after
January 1, 2006. The common one to a hundred ratio is used between the new Turkish Lira and Kuruş.

1 YTL = 100 Yeni Kuruş

Starting from January 1, 2006 old TL notes with the six zeros will no longer be accepted but they can be
exchanged for the new TL only at the Central Bank of Turkey (TC Merkez Bankası) offices or in the absence of a
Central Bank office, at a TC Ziraat Bankası office. After December 31, 20016, old TL notes and coins will have no legal
value.

New Year in Turkey - Yeni Yil

New year's day is celebrated in Turkey, very much like it is celebrated anywhere in the world. After all, it is yet
another opportunity to have a holiday and enjoy ourselves. You can see large groups of people outside, counting
down the seconds as loudly as possible during the last seconds of the year. However, there is also some opposition to
new year celebrations because it is a Christian custom. New year's day is universal as much as the calendar we use
goes, so it does not make much sense to say that new year's day celebrations are something 'Christian'. The real
reason for this opposition is that people generally confuse new year's day celebrations in Europe and US with the
Christmas celebrations. People in Turkey rarely know that Christmas is actually not celebrated on December 31st -
January 1st. You can try how true this statement is, if you know somebody from Turkey. I can bet they will most
probably say that Christmas is on December 31st. That is why you can see people with Christmas trees on New Year's
Day, or even people eating Turkey specially on New Year's Day (and here goes a confusion with Thanksgiving). Since
the only holiday celebrated in Turkey among the long holiday season holidays in the US is New Year's Day, everything
seen in the movies for the holiday season is packed into this day. But of course, for the majority in Turkey New Year's
Day celebrations are just the joy of another fresh and hopeful year.

This is how celebrations go, but you might also want to celebrate someone's new year in Turkish. Below are
some Turkish phrases that might be helpful for your new year's greetings... (Pharantheses are for the formal and
plural versions)

Happy new year! Yeni yılın (yılınız) kutlu olsun!

Happy new year! Mutlu yıllar! (Alternative)

I wish you many more happy new years. Nice yıllara.

I wish you happiness, luck and prosperity in Yeni yılda mutluluk, şans ve zenginlikler seninle
the new year. (sizinle) olsun.

Happy new year, with my most sincere

Yeni yılını (yılınızı) en içten dileklerimle kutluyorum.
wishes.

I wish you the best of everything in the new

Yeni yılda her şeyin en iyisi seninle (sizinle) olsun.
year.

Turkish Marches and Anthems - Istiklal Marsi History

İstiklal Marşı - Independence March, Turkish National Anthem

İstiklal marşı, meaning the 'Independence March', is the Turkish national anthem. It was written by Mehmet Akif
Ersoy and officially adopted on March 12, 1921. A nationwide competition was held for selecting the national anthem
of the new born Turkish Republic after the Turkish war of independence. A total of 724 poems were submitted to this
event and the 10-verse poem written by Mehmet Akif Ersoy was adopted unanimously by the Turkish Grand National
Assembly.

Another competition was held to select the most suitable musical composition for the national anthem and 24
composers submitted their works for this event. The council, in 1924, adopted the music composed by Ali Rıfat
Çağatay and this music was used until 1930 to sing the words of the national anthem. After this date, the music of the
national anthem was changed with the music composed by Osman Zeki Üngör, conductor of the Presidential
Symphonic Orchestra. Since then, the words of the Turkish National Anthem have been sung with this musical
composition. Out of the 10 verses, only the first two are sung with music.