Sunday through Tuesday/Wednesday of this week was the three day holiday of Seker Bayrami. It comes at the end of Ramazan. It is not the celebration after Ramazan, but rather Ramazan is the preparation for this special holiday in the muslim world. It would be like doing all the work of shopping and hanging the lights & decorations in the month of December, but forgetting to celebrate on the 25th. (well, not exactly like that, but you get the picture) The children walk the streets and knock on doors to receive money, candy and other treats. As a general rule, the first day is reserved for family celebrations, but the 2nd/3rd days (and this year the fourth because the first day was Sunday - their only weekend day) friends visit each others houses
. We had the privilege of being invited to a new friend's house. Breakfast is the big meal of the day. That makes sense if you remember that all during Ramazan they have not had breakfast or lunch. We met at 10:30 am and ate a wonderful traditional breakfast. This was not a come and go deal. We feasted for 4 hours. After we left the "official" table, we had candies, fruit, tea, coffee, etc. etc. in the salon. It is tradition for the children to kiss the hand of an adult and then put the adults hand to their head. The adult then gives the child a cloth tissue with money inside. As you can imagine our kids really liked this. The money is now burning a hole in their pockets! It is also tradition to take boxes of chocolates to neighbors. This was a great
opportunity for us to meet a few new neighbors; show our love for the people in our building; and honor the shop owners with which we have been building relationships. The next holiday is always 50 days from this one. (The start of Ramazan changes every year with the cycle of the moon.) We are not sure what it is all about, but we will be researching. Please pray with us that we are able to show respect for the people of this country by learning their traditions and customs so that we may have a voice and reveal light. AT
Sunday through Tuesday/Wednesday of this week was the three day holiday of Seker Bayrami. It comes at the end of Ramazan. It is not the celebration after Ramazan, but rather Ramazan is the preparation for this special holiday in the muslim world. It would be like doing all the work of shopping and hanging the lights & decorations in the month of December, but forgetting to celebrate on the 25th. (well, not exactly like that, but you get the picture) The children walk the streets and knock on doors to receive money, candy and other treats. As a general rule, the first day is reserved for family celebrations, but the 2nd/3rd days (and this year the fourth because the first day was Sunday - their only weekend day) friends visit each others houses
. We had the privilege of being invited to a new friend's house. Breakfast is the big meal of the day. That makes sense if you remember that all during Ramazan they have not had breakfast or lunch. We met at 10:30 am and ate a wonderful traditional breakfast. This was not a come and go deal. We feasted for 4 hours. After we left the "official" table, we had candies, fruit, tea, coffee, etc. etc. in the salon. It is tradition for the children to kiss the hand of an adult and then put the adults hand to their head. The adult then gives the child a cloth tissue with money inside. As you can imagine our kids really liked this. The money is now burning a hole in their pockets! It is also tradition to take boxes of chocolates to neighbors. This was a great 
opportunity for us to meet a few new neighbors; show our love for the people in our building; and honor the shop owners with which we have been building relationships. The next holiday is always 50 days from this one. (The start of Ramazan changes every year with the cycle of the moon.) We are not sure what it is all about, but we will be researching. Please pray with us that we are able to show respect for the people of this country by learning their traditions and customs so that we may have a voice and reveal light. AT
1 comment:
wow, that sounds really great! I am glad to hear that you are meeting new people. Please keep your experiences coming!
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