Today is the last day of work before 8 days of holidays!

I look forward to relaxing, seeing friends and catching up on emails and blog posts, but most of all, I look forward to welcoming Celine and Bengali when they visit from Aleppo, Syria!

I also look forward to seeing Taner, my neighbour, and some other friends who are returning to their families in Mersin for the end of Ramazan (Ramadan) holiday.

Did you know?

Turkey has the sweetest name for the end of Ramazan feast: ‘Bayram Sekeri’. The direct translation is ‘Festival of Sugar’. A more colloquial meaning is Sweets Festival or Candy Festival. One of the traditions of this feast is for children to kiss the hand of older people (normally relatives or family friends) and then touch their forehead with the older person’s hand. In return, they are given sweets.

Bayram Sekeri feast begins with the ‘iftar’ (fast-breaking meal) after sunset on the last day of Ramazan and continues for 3 further days. This year, the last day of Ramazan is on Monday the 24th and the feast ends on Thursday the 27th.