Ramazan

I arrived in Istanbul during the month of Ramazan.  In English we use the Arabic pronounciation and spell it Ramadan, but in Turkish, the d is hard to pronounce (I guess) and they both spell and pronounce the z.  During this lunar month (so it move around in the seasons) devout Muslims fast from sun rise to sunset, refraining even from water, kissing or cigarettes.  Turkey is officially a secular country, Ataturk separating mosque and state many years ago, but the citizens are overwhelmingly Muslim and my understanding is that the politics are getting more conservative.  The first call to prayer in the morning begins the fast and the fourth call to prayer ends it.  Last night I was invited to join some folks to go down to the Blue Mosque to observe the breaking of the fast. 

Metin is the head of IT at RC and he offered to be our tour guide, complete with plastic pointer finger.  All told there were just five of us that met at Yali gate at 6 to venture out.  The bus down town is very easy, there is a stop just outside the lower gate.  We rode the bus over the bridge into the horn of old Istanbul, south to the end of the line at Kabatash* where we switched to the tram into the old city.  This was the first stop for the tram, but already it was crowded and more people got on at every stop.  It is a big deal to break the fast together so many people were going to the mosques at the center of town, but it was also rush hour and people were just going home from work.  I was lucky to have my back to a glass panel so I was only crowded with people on two sides, but it was the most crowded public transportation I have ever been on. 

We exited the tram at Sultahamet around 7pm.  Sun set occurs earlier and earlier every day as the days get shorter in the summer, and we were expecting sunset to occur at 8:05pm.  Directly across from where we got off the tram, there was a very famous Kofte (meatball) resturant.  They were not letting any one in yet, and the line was down the block.  Metin thought they would let people in around 7:50 so they could be served in time for the call to prayer. The name for this meal is the Iftar  but I dont think it refers to the meatballs, but rather the meal that breaks the fast.   One of the other new to RC (but not Istanbul) teachers said that he saw a poster a few years back offering a McIftar under the golden arches. 

We wondered around the grounds of the Blue Mosque and saw lots of people preparing for the Iftar, they had blankets set out on the grass or were sitting on news papers.

 It was clearly a family time an Metin said that traditionally people would come to break the fast in community.  We walked through the outer courtyard of the mosque and a young boy, maybe 7 years old comes out dressed like a king!  This summer I had read Gardens of Water by Alan Drew which starts with a young boy dressed like a king on the occasion of his circumcision.  Metin says that now it is common to circumsize the boys at birth, but still celebrate when they are 7 or so. 

Walking through to the other side we found a special Ramazan bazar with many tables for people to eat Iftar at and many booths for people to buy traditional Ramazan treats and crafts.  We walked the length of it, trying some havla doner and buying some Turkish delight.  The crafts were really amazing and everything we tried was tasty.  We were in the bazar when the call to prayer started.

Metin says that Ataturk mandated that the call to prayer be in Turkish so that people would understand what was being said (not unlike the vatican II allowing mass to be said in English instead of Latin), but there was a more conservative government in power in the late 40s which switched it back to Arabic.  The lights on the mosque also went on when the prayer started and they say something like 'Share food with your neighbors.'  Everyone ate, even the folks in the booths, so all commerse stopped for a while, but there were still lots of tourists wondering around. 

We headed back to the trams station and back to the famous kofte resturant, the line was gone and we went right up to the third floor and were seated.  Their iftar meal was 19.5TL but we ordered less than a full meal for everyone.  It was very delicious, in part because I was hungry, in part because of the signifigance of the meal, but really it is a famous resturant for a reason. 

After dinner we wondered through the touristy parts of Sultanahmed and found our way to a baklava place that Metin recommended.  We had four types of bakalava and tea or water sitting out on the sidewalk.  Sally and Steve gave me the task of finding out which is better, Greek baklava or Turkish baklava.  I know he is biased, but Metin says that of course, Turkish baklava is better, in fact it keeps getting better the farther east you go.  Ok, he is Turkish, he had to say that, but he did give me a helpful hint for finding the best stuff.  It must dissolve in your mouth.  All you should have to do is put a bite on your tounge and when you move it around it has dissolved.  I can see that.  It is something to look for.  The baklava we tried was good.  My least favorite was the green one stuffed with pistacios and my most favorite was the 'mothers milk' one which had no nuts and was very creamy. 

We took the tram back to the bus stop, but the bus never came and we all piled into a cab for the ride back to RC, gettting in at midnight.    It was a much longer evening that I expected, but full of culture, great food, and an experience I was glad to have had, even if I paid for it the following morning by being exhausted for computer lessons.
*A note on spelling, there are special letters in Turkish that English doesnt have.  At some point, I may be comfortable enough with the Turkish keyboard to use those charactors regularly.  Until then I will probably use a combination of phonetic spelling and leaving out the umlouts.  What this will mean is that you shouldn't trust any of the Turkish words I write for spelling or proununsiation.