KURBAN BAYRAM

Geoff had work to do in Antalya (on the Mediterranean) and since the following week was a holiday in Turkey, we decided to take the scenic route home and visit the past.  Since the days of exploration we would enjoy were a direct result of events of the past, it is fitting that we explain this  holiday - KURBAN BAYRAM. 

 

Kurban Bayram, The Feast of the Sacrifice, is a 4 day religious festival, commemorating the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac (Ismael), as an act of faith and obedience to God, before God intervened and provided a ram to sacrifice instead. (Nov 16-19, the 16th being the day of sacrifice and feast day; it moves 10 days every year).

The first thing to be done on the day of sacrifice is to go to prayer, followed by the sacrifice.  Every Muslim home is obliged to sacrifice an animal on this day- sheep, goat, or cow.  They are to keep one third for themselves, give one third to family and friends, and the final third to the poor and needy.  The festival feast, with the eating of the sacrificial animal, is to be done with a cheerful heart in remembrance of God's bounty and provisions for mankind. The feast and thankful part being the only parallel that could be drawn to our Thanksgiving, when the Pilgrims, along with the Indians, prepared a feast and  gave thanks to God for their bountiful harvest after a year of extreme hardship.

 This truckload of sheep were being sold at the town square in the little town of Dalyan.  There were temporary sale yards set up outside many towns and villages right through the day of sacrifice.

It is traditional on the feast day  for families to visit the cemetery and bring tributes of remembrance.  We noticed  what was being sold or gathered, and then brought to the cemetery were branches of a bush or tree that we first thought were olive branches. Later on, asking our hotel host in Ephesus,  we learned the branches were Myrtle and was a symbol of love and immortality.
 

Myrtle - Funny, we had taken this photo on a mountain outside of Antalya at the beginning of our journey, to use as a reference to ask someone what it was.  It grew in abundance and caught our attention.  When we looked closely at the branches for sale along the roadsides, then viewed our own photos, we realized exactly what this plant was.

An elderly couple walking to the cemetery, the day before the feast day; this cemetery is on the Datca Peninsula

Myrtle branches, placed at a grave in remembrance, in whatever container was available.  The simplicity of it all is touching.