Ramadan

This is the first day of the holy month Ramadan (or in Turkish Ramazan). This month is very special for Muslims, because in Islam, many special things happened in this month. For example, the holy book Qur'an started to be sent down to people in this month. Muslims has a special prayer for Ramadan: Fasting. It is one of the very important worships.

Fasting is a prayer, people don't eat, drink, engage in sexual intercourse from dawn to sunset. For that reason, they wake up earlier than dawn, and eat and drink. In Turkey, there is a tradition. There are drummers to wake up people before dawn. They walk around the streets and play drums. Another special prayer is called "Teravih Namazı". This is a bit longer than normal salah prayer, which is read five times per day.

Especially, you may see nice text bulbs hanged on the minarahs of mosques. They are called "Mahya" in Turkish. Here are some examples of "Mahya"s:

And others: Read more »