Holidaze...

Presently, it's 12:18pm...I'm sitting at my desk in the English Department Teacher's room...I'm listening to the İstikal Marş (the national anthem of Turkey) which is rather abnormalI as it's only played in the mornings before class...now, the March has transformed into Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...and again the March and now Jingle Bells...I think they're having some technical difficulties..

 

 

Listening to this odd mix of patriotism and capitalism made me think about Christmas...today we put up our department Christmas tree - complete with tinsel, balls and lights!  Does anyone else think that it's slightly odd in a Muslim country??  Not so much it seems.  Although the Turkish people do not celebrate Christmas, they do celebrate the New Year like most other countries.  They have blended Western Christmas traditions with their own cultural New Year's traditions.  So, most every house will have a Christmas tree and some Santa Claus' hanging around!  Christmas music plays in the mall and stores around town - even in our English department.  Christmas lights, wreaths, and Santas decorate the street corners, building facades and windows.  On Saturday I was at Ankamall (the biggest shopping centre in Ankara - think bigger than the Eaton Centre or Square One,), and many of the home stores had Christmas angels, stars, reindeer, trees, gingerbread men, and anything else you can think of in relation to a Western style Christmas! Starbucks sells their Christmas Blend coffee, Levi's and H&M have Christmas themed sweaters, Pizza Pizza has a Christmas 2-for-1 special...you name it, it's here! 

 

The only thing they don't do here is celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day.  Like everyone else in Turkey, I'll be working on that day...and every other leading up to New Year's Day.  We do have New Year's Day off however.  Unlike Canada and the US, there are no winter holidays.  We have January 1st off and then it's business as usual until the end of the 1st semester which is January 25th.  Then we have 2 weeks off for Somestre - or Spring Break.  Then nothing again until the end of the year.  However, we do have 2 other weeks off for Ramadan - because this doesn't follow the Western calendar, the dates change every year.  This year, we had one week in August and one week in October to mark the beginning and the end of the month long holiday.  Next year it should fall in September and November...something to look forward to!

 

 



Our English Department Tree!