How is New Year celebrated in Turkey?
Turkey is famous for its mild climate and resort hospitality, therefore, not only in the summer season, but also during the long Christmas holidays, many tourists tend to visit it. Consider the specifics of celebrating the Turkish New Year, customs and traditions of the local population.
Peculiarities
In Turkey, it is customary to celebrate the New Year 2 times. Since 1926, the country has been living according to the Gregorian calendar, so the onset of the calendar New Year, as in all countries, is celebrated on the night of December 31 to January 1. But it cannot be said that it is celebrated on a large scale. The New Year was recognized as a public holiday in 1935, but the Muslim religion does not particularly approve of celebrations according to Catholic and Christian standards. New Year's holidays are short, unlike European countries, there is no vacation in Turkey.
Turkey is a deeply religious country that honors its centuries-old history. The second time New Year is celebrated according to ancient Turkic customs and canons on the day of the spring equinox - March 21.
The spring celebration of the New Year is called Navruz. On the eve of this day, people carry out general cleaning in their homes, pay off all debts, try to avoid quarrels and conflicts, ask each other for forgiveness and set a large festive table.
How and when is it celebrated?
Festive New Year events are concentrated in large cities - Istanbul, Ankara and Antalya, where tourists mainly stay and the Christian part of the population lives. On the eve of the New Year, the main streets and squares of cities are decorated with bright illumination, Christmas trees are installed and decorated. In shopping centers, it is time for generous sales and numerous promotions. On New Year's Eve, the city authorities organize concerts with the attraction of pop stars and arrange grandiose fireworks on the Central Squares.
For safety reasons, residents of Turkey are prohibited from launching pyrotechnics on their own.
Tourists who decide to celebrate the New Year in the resort cities of Turkey are hospitably accommodated by hotels and restaurants. For visitors, entertainment events, discos are organized, and a festive menu pleases with abundance. Interesting animation programs are held for children. Some hotels provide New Year gifts for young visitors. The local population of the country begins to prepare for the holiday in late December. In houses, they decorate a Christmas tree, attach garlands and prepare gifts for loved ones.
December 31 is a working day in the country, but most employers on this day reduce working hours, allowing employees to leave work in the afternoon to prepare for a family celebration. Turks have only 1 day of rest - January 1, this day has been an official day off since 1981, and already on January 2 they go to work.
In small towns and rural areas, where the bulk of the population professing the Islamic religion lives, the New Year is celebrated very modestly - by cooking festive dishes and watching TV.
In conservative families, it is not even customary to decorate a Christmas tree, as it is an attribute of Christian Christmas. The "Muslim" New Year is more respected here.
Festive table
The Turks prepare thoroughly for the New Year's meal, the menu is diverse. In recent years, city dwellers have developed a tradition borrowed from the English-speaking peoples - to serve stuffed turkey on the table. From national dishes, salads must be present:
- Roca - with chicken, tomatoes, cheese, rucola and pepper;
- "Kysyr" - with bulgur, tomatoes and an abundance of greens;
- Choban is a vegetable salad with spicy dressing.
No Turkish celebration is complete without a kebab. Many varieties of it are known; in every home it is prepared based on the preferences of family members. Some housewives prefer to bake seafood - mussels, shrimps, anchovy. If a holiday is met with a large number of relatives and friends, then the diet must include the preparation of kefte. They resemble cutlets, but due to the abundance of oriental spices, they are characterized by a piquant taste. As a side dish, baked potatoes flavored with thyme and barberry, vegetable stew in sour cream and garlic sauce, and green beans can be used as a side dish.
Without fail, the table is decorated with fruit platter of apples, pears, kiwi, mango, oranges. By the New Year, local tangerines ripen, which are also present on the festive table. Sweets take their rightful place in the Turkish feast. Tea is served with honey baklava, tulumba - custard rolls with cream and Turkish delight.
The use of strong drinks in large quantities on a holiday is discouraged.
On the table can be a Turkish alcoholic drink raki based on the distillation of grapes, figs, dates and with the addition of anise seeds. The drink is very strong, the alcohol content is 45-50%. On New Year's Eve, men can afford to drink a small amount of raki. Women, as a rule, do not consume it, preferring a glass of local grape wine.
In some families, it is customary to celebrate the holiday without alcohol at all, and as drinks there are Coca-Cola, Fanta and other carbonated drinks. Champagne in Turkey is not an obligatory attribute of the New Year, and few of the country's residents support the European tradition of raising a glass of sparkling drink and making a cherished wish to the chimes.
During the holidays, the hotels offer a wide range of national and traditional New Year's European dishes.
Traditions and customs
In the evening on December 31, Turkish television begins showing festive programs - concerts of pop artists, popular feature films. At 23.50, the entire adult population literally "sticks" to the TV screens, but not to watch the President's congratulatory address, but because at this time the broadcast of the annual New Year's lottery Milli Piyango begins. The main multi-million dollar super prize and large sums of money are played out in it. Sale of lottery tickets starts a month before the New Year, and almost every resident buys at least one ticket.
The lottery ticket is considered one of the best and most desirable holiday gifts. It is customary for the Turks to hand over New Year's presents to each other at the time of the festive feast. Usually they do not differ in high price and are symbolic in nature.
Children expect gifts from Noel Baba (Turkish Santa Claus), write him letters with requests in advance, and after waking up on the first day of the New Year, they find a cherished gift under the tree.
New Year is undoubtedly a kind and bright holiday, but for Turkey it is relatively young, therefore, the country has not yet developed a stable tradition of celebrating it. But still, the Turks are quite tolerant and adopt the vending experience of celebrating from other cultures. Perhaps, after a certain period, they will like the long New Year's bustle and the enchanting atmosphere of festive magic.
See the next video for how the New Year is celebrated in Turkey.
