Turkish holidays
There are two main kinds of holidays celebrated in the Republic of Turkey – civil and religious. The first type of holidays in Turkey generally marks the most notable milestones of the Kemalist Revolution, while the latter – the turning points in the evolution of Islam. The first are purely Turkish holidays, while the latter are international. The first type of holidays in Turkey are tied to the European calendar starting with the birth of Christ, while the latter are tied to the floating Hijri Calendar. These contradictions reflect the social Turkish duality.
The changes which Turkey has gone through during the 20s of the XX Century have made it a "Torn Country", that is Turkish in a cultural sense, and European in a social and administrative sense. Hence, the Turkish duality of customs and traditions becomes evident.
The consequence of modernization in the beginning of the previous Century was a transition to the Gregorian style calendar, which is now used to mark all of the republican fiestas and holidays in Turkey.
However, this transition to the Gregorian calendar lacks strong roots in Turkish history and thus, there are no established traditions in Turkey to confirm the celebration of these civil holidays. The government funded events are monotonous and dull, to say the least. For the most part they involve celebrations at educational institutions, where children are raised in the spirit of honoring Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
The one truly national civil holiday is the Day of Youth and Sports (May 19), since almost two thirds of the Turkish nation are people under the age of 35. Such a high percentage of young people can be explained by the fact that not so long ago a tendency towards the reestablishment of the norms of Islam was being observed, along with a return to older traditions in Turkey. An important fact about Muslim civilizations in general is that students are usually the most ardent supporters of traditions in Turkey.
Speaking about Turkey and Turkish duality, one should not forget that despite the separation of the Church and State, which took place in 1928, it is difficult to find any atheists, unlike Russia. And regardless of the fact that in the Turkish Republic there are only two Islamic holidays – Seker Bayram and Kurban Bayram, both official holidays in Turkey, confessional (religious) festivals remain quite popular in rural and urban regions alike. For example, during the month of Ramadan nobody stops fulfilling their work duties, however, most people leave work early in order to be at home for the hour of Iftar. Also, if you decide to visit Turkey during the month of Ramadan then you should be prepared to find many restaurants, tea and coffee shops closed during the daytime, while others will not serve alcoholic beverages.
In general, it should be noted that every Turkish village has its holidays. Besides, along with the Sunnites-Hanefites, who comprise the majority of the Turkish population, there are adepts of other religions living on the territory of Turkey. Each religious minority celebrates its own holidays. For example, the holidays of the Julian Calendar are celebrated not only in Istanbul – the capital of Constantinople's Patriarchy, but in a small region near lake Van, where a minority of Armenians live. Catholic, Jewish, and other religious minorities also carry out their rituals according to the internal calendar. In Istanbul it is common to see the more tolerant Muslims accepts Easter eggs from their Orthodox neighbors, while the latter devour the baklava and rahat lukum during the Sugar holiday which marks the end of the month of Ramadan.
