Istanbul Diaries: Experiencing Ramadan & Muslim Holidays in Turkiye.

It is 3 o’clock in the morning, a few hours before dawn. You are sound asleep in your bed when you hear a small and a large drum being beat to death outside. You peek out the window to see a man slowly walking down the dark street, banging on one side with a loud BOM BOM, tapping the other with a rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat. You notice that everyone’s lights are on and people are stirring inside. You can see through sheer curtains that families are preparing food and sitting down to eat a huge meal.

Later that day, you take a stroll outside. Many of the shops are closed, the tea houses normally filled with old men are empty. It’s almost sunset and there are longer-than-usual lines of people outside of bakeries, all waiting to buy a special bread you can’t buy at any other time of year. Like clockwork, the bustling streets of Istanbul become completely deserted as the mosques announce the evening prayer call. You walk up and down the narrow sidewalks and an eerie silence hangs in the air. In a city of 20 million people, not a soul can be seen; even the infamous Istanbul traffic is gone. All you can hear is the light clanging of dishes, the kind you hear when people are eating. Time is at a complete halt as it does every day for the next 30 days. It’s Ramadan.

What is Ramadan? 

Ramadan is a holy month of fasting in the Muslim religion. Fasting is one of the pillars of Islam and is a time of reflection for most Muslims. During the fast, Muslims cannot eat or drink anything from before sunrise until sunset when the evening prayer is called, also called “Iftar.” This includes water, chewing gum, or anything entering the body such as smoke from cigarettes. They must also abstain from any sexual activity during this period. If you are pregnant, menstruating, or on medication, you do not have to fast as health is important. After the 30 days, one of the two major holidays of the Muslim world, the “Sugar Festival,” takes place and families get together to celebrate.

Why Do They Fast?

Fasting is an extremely important spiritual aspect of the Muslim faith and is an act of self-discipline, creating a closer bond to God. In addition, it's supposed to help bring to mind people who do not have food or drink making you more empathetic and grateful for God’s blessings. People take this fast very seriously as it is a requirement of their faith. I personally think it is a beautiful time and, once you’re aware of it, you can feel a heightened sense of spirituality lingering in the air.

Ramadan Drummers

Drummers are an ancient tradition of Ramadan and about 2,000 drummers wander the streets, waking up neighborhoods during the Holy Month. In the past, this served a vital purpose since there weren’t alarm clocks. Drummer boys may knock on your door during the day to ask for donations. This happened to me and as soon as the drummer saw me, he knew I had no idea why he was there. I think he was more surprised to see me than I him. The poor guy quickly apologized and left. People also put money in baskets and lower them down to the drummers as they make their rounds.

What is it like being in a Muslim country during Ramadan?

As for me personally, I love Ramadan because I get the evening streets all to myself. While others rush off to their homes, I stroll through the narrow sidewalks and take in the eerie silence I mentioned earlier. It’s an incredibly peaceful time for me and I try to go for walks every single day. In everyday life, the streets are so busy that walking is not relaxing at all. During Ramadan however, walking the evening streets gives you a sense of solitude that you very rarely experience in Istanbul and I always cherish this time.

Do people get offended if you do not fast? 

If you are not Muslim, no. No one expects non-muslims to fast, however, they are very happy if you want to try. During my first Ramadan in Turkey, I was worried that people would get upset, outraged even, if they saw me eating or drinking during the day. I remember getting hungry while visiting the mall and wondering how I could possibly sit down and eat while the hungry servers were all fasting. I thought people walking by would sneer and scrunch their noses at me, whispering “pagan” under their breath. I made my way around the stores to the cafes outside and, to my surprise, there were quite a few people sitting and eating - drinking alcohol even. Once I saw this, I felt like less of a sinner and I ordered my meal. There were no pitchforks or setting the tables ablaze, the servers did their jobs just as they normally did without contempt. 

All of that being said, you should always be aware of your surroundings and keep in mind that conservative areas may not take kindly to openly drinking alcohol during their holy month. I also do not know how this transfers to other countries and I am only talking about Turkiye. 

It is important to know that people do not expect you to know everything about Ramadan. If you don’t know, they are more than happy to explain it to you and will not shame you for asking questions. The same goes for the other major holidays, the sugar festival (Eid al-Fitr / Seker Bayram) and the sacrifice festival (Kurban Bayram / Eid al-Adha).

Major Islamic Holidays: Eid al-Fitr

The Sugar Festival, or Eid al-Fitr, is the holiday that breaks the fast of Ramadan and it lasts for about four days. A lot of preparation takes place before this holiday as shopping, cleaning, and cooking all need to be done before the holiday starts. The sugar festival starts out with a community-wide prayer and is followed by breaking the fast with family. Younger people are supposed to visit elders and show their respect by kissing their hand and bringing it to their foreheads.

So, why is it called the sugar festival? One day I heard a knock at my door and wondered who it could be. When I opened it, there were about four children with plastic bags full of candy. They looked at me, I looked at them, and we all said “...oh”. Obviously, they could tell I was a foreigner and, at the time, I couldn’t ask what was going on or what they wanted. I then realized that it was like Halloween without the costumes and they were expecting me to give them candy. I thought to myself, “Oh, so that’s why all the markets have tons of candy on display.” I tried my best to apologize in broken Turkish and quickly made my way to the market where the piles of candy were all sold out and I missed my chance to participate. 

Major Islamic Holidays: Eid al-Adha

The sacrifice festival (Eid al-Adha / Kurban Bayram) is the other major Muslim holiday symbolizing the event of Abraham being told to sacrifice his son, Ishmael. This is my personal favorite holiday since it's essentially a 4-day BBQ. Three years ago, I was cleaning my house when I heard someone calling “Gelin, Gelin,” which means “bride.” I opened my window and saw my neighbor in the other building smiling at me. She asked me if I had any rope. What? Rope? I couldn’t ask why at the time so I just followed directions. She used body language to tell me to toss her one end, so I did. Afterwards, I saw her tie her end of the rope to a bag of meat and she dropped it out the window. Why was my neighbor giving me meat in a plastic bag? I thought she was just being friendly and I forgot about it until my husband asked where the meat came from. “Our neighbor tossed it to me in a bag.” I then learned that, during the sacrifice festival, you are supposed to buy lamb/goat meat and give some away to people in need, neighbors, friends, and keep some for yourself. 

Traditionally, after the men attend an early morning prayer, a goat/lamb/calf is sacrificed and divided into three portions to be given away as previously described. In Turkey, thousands of goats, lambs, and calves are slaughtered on the first day of the festival. I haven’t seen it in Istanbul, but in more rural areas you might see large herds of sheep on the streets. Sacrifice is a symbol of gratitude and devotion to God symbolizing a ram being sacrificed instead of Ishmael. The animal is given food and water, its head and eyes are wrapped in a clean cloth, it is turned to face Mecca, and verses are cited from the Koran, and the animal’s throat is cut. I have not witnessed this either.

Similarly to the sugar festival, it is important for younger people to visit elders and show their respect. The holiday is spent with family and friends centered around a large meal, much like Thanksgiving.

Cultural Insight

Despite the fact that both of these are religious holidays, I am always welcomed to join my in-laws if I want to. My husband's family was always very aware that I felt uncomfortable around a lot of people due to my lack of language and knowledge of the culture, so I wasn’t expected to attend unless I wanted to. 

Unlike during Western holidays, there is not much decorating for Muslim holidays. You might see a few signs that say “Blessed Ramadan,” however there aren’t really symbols of the holiday like Santa, easter eggs, jack o'lanterns, or things like that. This is the reason why I was unaware of the holidays taking place. I did not sense the holiday spirit or any type of holiday atmosphere and so I had no clue. If you find yourself in a very modern part of the country, you might not even realize it’s a holiday. 

Final Thoughts

The experience that I have had with Muslim holidays in Turkiye has always been positive; I do not know if it is the same in other Muslim countries, but I imagine so. I have never been pressured to take part in the religious aspects of it such as praying or learning about the religion. No one ever required me to be Muslim to attend their celebrations and people genuinely felt happy to share their culture when I did attend. All in all, I really appreciate the meaning behind both of these holidays and I particularly love the idea of spirituality combined with empathy towards the poor. There are many beautiful things about Muslim culture and giving is one of them.