Lesson Transcript

Herkese merhaba, ben Seda!
Hi everybody, my name is Seda.
Welcome to TurkishClass101.com.
Nasılsınız? Her şey yolunda mı? Türkçe öğrenmek zevkli mi?
Hope everything is fine and you guys enjoy learning Turkish.
Today we'll talk about our Turks we spend our holidays.
So first we have to talk about our holidays.
And we have two, like in other cultures, holidays are a huge part of Turkish culture.
And our lifestyle and Turkish people celebrate two different types of holidays.
One is national holidays and the other one is religious holidays.
Let's first talk about, oops sorry, national holidays, okay?
There are several national holidays in Turkey throughout the year.
There are several national holidays in Turkey throughout the year, including:
Republic Day (October 29) Cumhuriyet Bayramı
Youth and Sports Day (May 19) 19 Mayıs Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı
National Sovereignty and Children’s Day (April 23) 23 Nisan Ulusal Egemenlik ve Çocuk Bayramı
Victory Day (August 30) 30 Ağustos Zafer Bayramı
All these holidays are related to the victories after World War I
and during our Independence War as a country.
And then these are about the new Republic of Turkey.
As you may already know, these lands once were Ottoman Empire.
But in World War I, the Ottomans lost the war.
So after the war, Imperial forces were about to flee and destroy this country.
However, our hero, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey
and his companions together with the Turkish people fought back
and gained their lands and their freedom back.
And after the modern Turkey was founded, all these holidays,
all these holidays are about remembering those times and celebrating.
So how do we celebrate them?
During these national holidays, all official offices are closed.
And all the cities are decorated with Turkish flags.
You can also see flags hanging from the windows and balconies of houses and offices.
And these are official and unofficial.
There are a lot of official and unofficial celebrations everywhere.
Some music and festival like things.
Anyway, religious holidays.
Turkey is a secular country, so the government doesn't prefer religion.
But since the majority of its population is Muslim,
the official religious holidays are Muslim holidays.
These are multiple religious holidays every year.
The reason for that is because religious holidays use different calendar
than what we normally use in our daily lives.
And the dates change every year because one is a monthly calendar.
First holiday is Ramadan.
Ramadan is the month when Muslims fast for 30 days
between the sunrise and the sunset of each day.
And three-day holiday follows the month of Ramadan.
During this holiday, people generally visit other family members, friends, etc.
And younger one kiss older one's right hand
and put it on their own foreheads.
This is a symbol of respect.
And candy, chocolate, and Turkish coffee are offered to guests.
And children are given money as an allowance.
The second one is Feast of Sacrifice.Kurban Bayramı
This holiday is four days long.
Most households, if they can afford it financially,
sacrifice an animal, usually a sheep,
in a special ritual or just pay the share for the amount.
The meat is shared with relatives and neighbors,
with one-third of the meat usually given to those who are in need.
And in addition to these special traditions,
the same features of Ramadan holiday apply to this one as well.
This is the tradition.
However, lately, the government has been doing this.
For example, let's assume the Ramadan holiday starts on Wednesday,
and the previous day is half-workday, the Tuesday.
Sometimes the whole week is officially called a holiday week.
A lot of people go to holiday places instead of all these traditions,
especially if it's during summer time.
So if you are planning to visit Turkey,
check if the visit is during these two holidays
because the hotels can be very crowded.
We also have a New Year holiday.
The first day of January is a holiday in Turkey.
People generally rest since the previous night is the last day of the year,
and a lot of people eat a party or get around homes
and celebrate with friends and family.
And I also need to say something about this celebration.
It's a little bit mixed.
New Year and Christmas traditions are a little bit mixed in Turkish culture.
For the New Year, New Year, not Christmas,
we get a tree decorated and put gifts under it.
Then on the last day of December,
we give these gifts to each other as a New Year's gift.
And some conservative people don't like it
because it reminds them of Christmas,
but a lot of people celebrate the New Year like this.
So very new and not a common holiday is Halloween. Cadılar Bayramı
It's not official at all.
It's not even a holiday,
but lately some private schools and young people started to celebrate this.
It's like a costume party, but it's the same day on Halloween.
Anyway, and now the one I like most.
This is another non-holiday but widely celebrated one in Turkey.
It is Hıdırellez.
This is a fun form of spring festival.
According to one calendar, it's on the 6th of May.
According to another, it's 23rd of April.
This is a very ancient tradition that we can find its roots in ancient cultures.
Hıdırellez is a mixed word.
Maybe you've heard it as Ederlezi.
There's a song called Ederlezi.
Anyway, according to legend, Hızır and Ilyas are two prophets,
mystics or we can say beloveds of God.
They all also have roots in Judaism as well.
And according to the legend, they found Ağb-ı Hayat,
which is the water of life and they became immortal.
One is responsible for the waters and the other is for the land.
And only for a day these two companions meet in a year,
which is the day of Hıdırellez.
This day is very holy and all the wishes were believed to come true.
That's why people celebrate the day and these two coming together.
What does the celebration look like?
People make a big fire and jump over it.
Then they make their wishes or write or draw their wishes on a piece of paper
and bury it under a rose bush.
And the next day they dig it up and throw it in the water.
And some people hang rags on a rose bush making wishes.
And also on this day, we make yogurt using dew on the plants and trees.
In Turkish culture, we eat unsweetened yogurt a lot, if you didn't know that.
And a lot of people make their own yogurt, including me.
And to make yogurturt, you warm the milk and add yeast
and keep it covered for a time to keep the heat in
and let the bacteria in the yeast to make it yogurt from milk to yogurt.
The yeast also can be made from a lot of things.
You can add the chickpeas to milk at a certain temperature
and let it become the yeast, for example.
But this time of year, people use dew as a yeast to make their yogurts.
They use the bacteria in the dew.
I'm sure there are a lot of different celebrations
since these are not official but cultural festivals
and it varies in different regions.
So please leave comments about this.
Do you guys celebrate this festival?
How do you celebrate it?
Or if it's not this one, do you have some kind of spring festival?
And what are the rituals there?
Do you guys make your own yogurt from a dew?
And so all I say about the holidays are done.
But I'm really, really curious about this spring festival
because in every culture, some kind of spring festivals
are celebrated.
And I wonder if they, what are your traditions to celebrate?
And do you have something similar to Hıdırellez in Turkish
or Ederlezi or some other kind of festival
that talks about immortality of two people together
and them bringing luck and making your wishes come true.
Okay, leave some comments.

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