Turkish Sugar Festival is sweet for all

  • Published
  • By By Mehmet Birbiri
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs host nation advisor
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, TURKEY --  Question: Mehmet, what is the Sugar Festival?

 Response: The Sugar Festival is celebrated by Moslems at the end of Ramazan, the fasting month for Moslems. The Sugar Festival starts Sept. 30 at noon, the last day of Ramazan is Oct.2. 

In addition, the government has announced that Sept. 29, 30 and Oct. 3, are holidays as well. Thus, Turkish people will have a nine-day holiday. Due to the Sugar Festival being a national religious holiday, schools and government offices are closed during those days. 

It is traditional to wear new outfits during "Bayram," or festival, so parents buy new clothes for their children. Many children are excited about wearing their new clothing on the first day of the festival. Turkish citizens also completely clean their house before the festival. 

The first day is the most important; everybody wakes early and men go to the mosque for the special "Bayram" prayer, and after returning from the mosque, all family members dress nicely and practice another important tradition: Bayram visits. 

Young people visit their elders first but, the other relatives, neighbors and friends are also visited. Due to those visits, traffic is busy on the first day of the festival. 

Bayram visits are kept very short, between 10 to 15 minutes. Mostly candies, chocolates, Turkish coffee or cold beverages are offered to visitors. People who cannot visit their friends and family members in other towns and cities make phone calls or send cards celebrating each other's festival. 

Children love these visits and would like to visit as many elders as they can, because it is tradition that elders give them pocket money. Children can easily collect pocket enough pocket money for one month. But the best part for them is that there are no restrictions on how much money they spend and how they spend it. Therefore, amusement parks are set up in almost every town during the festival. 

"Kapicis", doormen at apartment buildings, trash collectors and Ramazan drummers knock on doors expecting gifts or tips. 

Another tradition practiced during the festival is visiting the graves of deceased family members. Graveyard visits start one day prior to the festival and continue throughout. 

If you visit your Turkish friends, a box of candy or chocolate would be the most appropriate gift to bring. The phrase for celebrating your Turkish friends festival is "Iyi bayramlar" (ee-yee by-rahm-lahr) which means, "I wish you a happy festival." 

Here is another tradition observed by the Turks during the festival: Boys born during the festival are frequently given the name of "Bayram." Similarly, boys are given the name of "Ramazan" if they are born in the month of Ramazan. 

Question: Why is it called Sugar Festival? 

Response: Another name for the festival is "Ramazan Bayrami." In Arabic, it is called "Id-ul Fitr." To tell you the truth, I really don't know why it is called "Sugar Festival," but I think since sweet things; i.e. candies and chocolates, are offered during visits and it is wished to have sweet things during the festival and afterwards, it's called the "Sugar Festival." 

Sugar is "seker" in Turkish and Sugar Festival is called "Seker Bayrami" as well.