Bayram

Following the Muslim month of fasting comes the feast to celebrate its completion! Ed al Fitr, or Ramazan Bayram as it is known in Turkey and Azerbaijan, is a feast of gifts and generosity. Please be aware that the date may vary from that published here.
Following the stern austerity and regimented spiritual (and physical) diet of Ramadan, the fast that lasts the entire length of the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, people indulge in a brief suspension of everyday reality before everything comes back to normal. For the period of this feast families come together, friends visit each other and everyone gives gifts to everyone else.

Ramazan (Fasting) begins 30 days before Bayram. If you have decided to starve you have to get up before sunrise, pray and then you have to have a good breakfast washed down with a lot of water, because you must neither eat nor drink till sunset. When the dusk falls and the top of the mosque are lit up you have the right to drink a gulp of water and then have a substantial meal. The starvation purifies you from your sins. The 30th day of Ramazan marks the beginning of the Bayram. On this day the children go round the houses of the Turks and kiss the hands of the older members of the family who give them sweets and small change. Those who have quarreled or hurt each other’s feeling make it up by kissing their hands. This year Ramazan bayram begins on 16 December.
75 days later begins Kurban Bayran. On that day the people get up early and they slaughter the biggest ram. This offering is done for the health of a member of the family. The right side of the animal is given to seven poor families while the skin and the head is given to a rich person. The family eats the left side of the animal. Ten the men from the family go to pray in the mosque. On they return home the youngest members of the family kiss their hands.