Ertugrul Ozkok: The conjunction of Kurban Bayram and New Year's
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 29, 2006 12:23
The other evening, I was passing in front of one of Istanbul's large malls. Lights were shining brightly all around it. I can say the following with no exaggeration: the lights on this mall were more spectacular than those on London's Harrods Department Store. The same is true for many other shopping centers this season in Istanbul. I was also in Beyoglu on a recent evening. The flow of human traffic in front of Istiklal's Tunel area was incredible; I wanted to immediately become a part of it all.
This year we celebrate both New Year's and Bayram together. And so I've been trying to remember.....have we ever had this particular conjunction of celebrations before? Maybe, though I truly don't remember. I guess if it ever happened that New Year's and Bayram fell together, we didn't pay much attention. But now we feel the clash. Where from? Well, recently, there was a statement from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, asserting that those who wanted to celebrate New Year's shouldn't feel uncomfortable. I thought this was an odd statement, and it got me to thinking about why the Ministry even felt the need to make such a statement. The truth is, the overlapping of these two events raises my personal pleasure even more. What it really makes me want to do is celebrate even more fiercely for both of them.
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Yes, it's true, the celebrations for New Year's come to us from the West. But the fact is, they are a part of our lives now. From the time I was very young in Izmir, New Year's had always been celebrated with great joy in our household. We would gather in our house and play tombola, we would eat special foods, and listen to the radio.
Years ago, I read a piece by the writer Octavio Paz on festival days. He noted "Festivals are days when societies stop to catch their breaths." That's what New Years are about. Which is why the lighting up of shopping centers, housing compouds, and neighborhoods gives me so much pleasure.
* * *
I have written about this particular aspect to it before, and will repeat it now: Turkey could be a leader in allowing the pleasure of these lights spread into days which also belong to the Islamic calendar. For example, what about the month of Ramazan? I imagine a Ramazan for Turkey which could involve lighted up streets, lighted up stores, special decorations on shopping center fronts. People fasting, while also preparing for Seker Bayram. Lively shopping, while everyone thinks of presents to buy eachother. Would it be so bad?
* * *
I don't know about others, but it seems to me that during the month of Ramazan, an air of melancholy seems to descend over Turkey. People seem to look sad. But shouldn't it be just the opposite? Yes, some of you might stop me here to say "But lighting things up is a Christian tradition, not a Muslim one!" But I don't agree. After all, haven't we always had strings of lights bulbs between our mosques' minarets during the month of Ramazan? I think that this coming pair of festivals is a good time to think about these traditions within the context of Islamic traditions.
* * *
I have written about this particular aspect to it before, and will repeat it now: Turkey could be a leader in allowing the pleasure of these lights spread into days which also belong to the Islamic calendar. For example, what about the month of Ramazan? I imagine a Ramazan for Turkey which could involve lighted up streets, lighted up stores, special decorations on shopping center fronts. People fasting, while also preparing for Seker Bayram. Lively shopping, while everyone thinks of presents to buy eachother. Would it be so bad?
* * *
I don't know about others, but it seems to me that during the month of Ramazan, an air of melancholy seems to descend over Turkey. People seem to look sad. But shouldn't it be just the opposite? Yes, some of you might stop me here to say "But lighting things up is a Christian tradition, not a Muslim one!" But I don't agree. After all, haven't we always had strings of lights bulbs between our mosques' minarets during the month of Ramazan? I think that this coming pair of festivals is a good time to think about these traditions within the context of Islamic traditions.