Category: Serap Korkmaz Erdoğdu

Everybody thinks that tulips come from Holland. Actually, Tulips are native to Central Asia and Turkiye. In the 16th Century they were brought to Holland from Turkiye, and quickly became widely popular.

The Tulip period or Tulip era is a period in Ottoman history from 1718 to the rebellion of Patrona Halil in 1730. This was a relatively peaceful period, during which the Ottoman Empire can be said to have begun to orient itself towards Europe.

The name of the period derives from the tulip craze among the Ottoman court society. Cultivating this culturally ambiguous emblem had become a celebrated practice. The tulip period illustrated the conflicts brought by early modern consumer culture and was a shared material symbolism. During this period the elite and high-class society of the Ottoman Period had established an immense fondness for the tulip, which were utilized in various occasions. Tulips defined nobility and privilege, both in terms of goods and leisure time.

The tulips begin to bloom around the end of March or beginning of April, depending on the weather. They bloom for several weeks and may delight the eye and the spirit for nearly a month.

The day accepted as the New Year’s Day by the Turks living in Central Asia, Anatolian Turks and Iranians is called Nevruz. It is a combination of the Persian words Nev (New) and Ruz (Day). It corresponds to March 21st  according to the Western calendar and March 9th according to the Moslem one, when the day and the night are of equal length and ıs known by such names as “Nevruz-i Sultani,” “Sultan Nevruz,” “Sultan Navriz” and “Mart Dokuzu” (Ninth of March).

Although it is has been claimed that Nevruz was a Persian conception, it also appears in the Twelve Animal Turkish Calendars, and had been known to the Turks and celebrated by them for a very long time.

The principle view of Nevruz is that it is a celebration of independence. In other words that it marks the day of departure from Ergenekon. Hence, Nevruz has been accepted as the beginning of the new year by Turks and has still been celebrating with festivals.

Among the Turkish communites of Central Asia, the Azeris, Kazakhs, Khirghiz, Türkmens, Uzbeks and Uyghur Turks, the Anatolian Turks and the Balkan Turks have kept the Nevruz traditon alive up to the present day.

Hospitality is one of the cornerstones of the Turkish way of life. Turkish people are the most gracious and generous hosts as a result of their naturalinstincts. In every corner of the country such a traditional hospitality will meet you. Every individual feels bound to honor his guest in the best possible manner. They will open their houses to every guest with a smiling face and withall their sincerity give the best seat and cook the best food for their guest. Turkish people are very understanding about foreigners’ different customs and they try to communicate in order to help visitors according to their code of hospitality. The mentality of that hospitality is “whatever religion you are from, whichever country you come from, whatever language you speak, you are’God’s Guest’ ,” so you deserve to be welcomed in the best manner.

Kapalicarsi (Grand Bazaar) in İstanbul  is one of the the largest covered markets in the world with its 4400 shops, 3000 firms, some 17 hans (separate inns for specific type of products), 64 streets,25.000 employees, 4 fountains, 2 mosques and 22 gates. It’s a real heaven for shoppers and a good opportunity for people to discover the Turkish hospitality.

It looks like a labyrinth at first sight but it’s actually not that complicated. All you have to do is to keep your eyes on the main street (Kalpakcilarbasi Street, the jewelry street). The Bazaar was first constructed in 1464 with the order of Mehmed II ‘the Conqueror’ and had many restorations over the years due to the extensive fires and destructive earthquakes. There are tens of cafés, a police station, little mosques, in the bazaar tourists information points .

Tea is the most popular drink in Turkey. A typical Turk drinks approximately around 10 glasses of black tea pro day. While both Chinese and Indians claim that they first discovered the use and drink of  Tea thousands of years ago, Turks evolved their own way of making and drinking the black tea (Çay in Turkish), which became a way of life for our culture. Wherever you go in Turkey, tea or coffee will be offered as a sign of friendship and hospitality, anywhere and any time, before or after any meal. The production of tea in Turkey mainly started in the early years of the Republic along the eastern Black Sea Region. Many of the tea plantations are centered around the town of Rize, and from the Georgian border to Trabzon, Arakli, Rize, Karadere and Fatsa (near Ordu), reaching in some places 30 kilometers inland and reaching the height of around 1000 m. In 1947 the first tea factory was built in Rize and in 1965 the production of dried tea reached to the level of domestic consumption. The tasks of buying, processing and selling tea was conducted by the Tekel (Monopoly of State) General Directorate until then, in 1971 was transferred to the Tea Corporation, and in 1984 the Monopoly on tea was lifted and this facility was also provided to the private sector. Turkish tea is full-flavored and too strong to be served in large cups thus it’s always offered in little tulip-shaped glasses which you have to hold by the rim to save your fingertips from burning because it’s served boiling hot. You can add sugar in it but no milk, and you can have it either lighter (weaker) or darker (stronger) depending on your taste because Turkish tea is made by pouring some very strong tea into the glass, then cutting it with water to the desired strength. Serious tea-drinker Turks usually go to a coffee & tea house where they serve it with a samovar (Semaver in Turkish) so they can refill their glasses themselves as much as they want.

Kımız (Mare’s Milk): A drink of fermented mare’s milk, kımız has a very ancient history among the Turks of Central Asia. Islam was probably responsible for its decline, since horsemeat and mare’s milk were, while not actually forbidden, regarded as undesirable by the Arabs. It survived, however, among the non-Ottoman T…urkish peoples of Central Asia. The drink remains important to the people of the Central Asian steppes, including the Turks, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols, Yakuts and Uzbeks. It was also consumed by Hungarian tribes.