NASREDDIN HODJA

The stories of Nasreddin Hodja have been very popular all over the Middle East for hundreds of years . He lived in Akşehir in Turkey, which is not far away from Ankara, in the 14th century. He is a friendly character. Hodja is a term of respect which means teacher. He knew the Koran well. He wore the Kavuk , that is like the Indian turban and a long robe.There is a statue of the Hodja by the roadside in Akşehir. He is sitting on his donkey, wearing the turban but he is facing backwards.In many of the stories the Hodja is friendly with Timurlaine who overran Turkey in 1402. There are some stories of Timurlane and Hodja. The Hodja often jokes him and amuses him. The important characters in the stories are the Hodja himself , his wife , Timurlane and his donkey.The Hodja is also known as the wise fool. Every year he is remembered in a special ceremony. For three days there are celebrations. There is a discussion on the Hodja's life , an exhibition of drawings and his stories are acted out. There are some stories below . Enjoy reading them.The DonkeyThe Hodja saved up and he bought a donkey. His neigbour wanted to borrow it . The neighbour came the Hodja's house and said '' I would be very grateful if you could lend me your donkey.''The Hodja replied : '' I would be happy to let you borrow my donkey but I have already lent it to someone else.''Just as the neighbour was going home he heard the braying donkey.He asked '' Hodja why did you lie to me ? Your donkey is in the garden.''The Hodja exclaimed '' You idiot ! What sort of a man are you ? Do you believe me or the donkey?''Kazan diedOn one occasion, Hodja borrows a kazan (large cauldron) from his neighbour. When Hodja returns the kazan, the neighbour sees that there is a small cooking pot in the bottom. He asks- Hodja, What is this? Hodja replies:- Apparently the kazan had been pregnant and it has given birth to this small pot.The neighbour unquestioningly accepts the kazan and the pot. Some weeks later, Hodja wishes to borrow the same kazan. The neighbour is only too happy to oblige. This time, a month passes. The neighbour calls on Hodja to inquire about his kazan. Hodja, with a concerned look, announces:- I am sorry, but your kazan died.The neighbor is puzzled. Then becoming angry, he demands:- How could it die?- You believed that it gave birth, why do you not believe that it died?Face at the windowNasreddin Hodja called at a large house to collect for charity. The servant said:- My master is out.Hodja replied,- Tell your master that next time he goes out, he should not leave his face at the window. Someone might steal it. For more stories you can go to this address and read his jokes.http://hem.bredband.net/hodja/menu.htm

Sacrifice Holiday or Bairam in Turkey

Today is the second day of Kurban Bayrami ( The feast of sacrifice) . After such sad tsunami disaster , cousin's cancer news and another human made tsunami in Iraq , it hasn't been so happy Bairam for us .
I want to tell about Kurban Bairam a bit . Houses are cleaned from top to bottom . Shopping is made . The day before the Bairam children grab a bag and they start to ring the bells and they bid for a happy Bairam and we give them candies , balloons or chocolates even small dolls or cars . On the very first day everybody is busy with cutting and sharing and delivering the meat . The second day they start visiting each other .
As a tradition older people are visited by the younger ones on the first two days . Kids are given pocket money or presents . Bairams are good excuses for giving presents to each other among the family members or relatives. Older people and kids are the most important in these days . By the way If mother or father or other members of the family aren't alive they are visited in the cemetary first . Then living ones are visited.
Chocolate and candies are served to the guests first , then turkish coffee or hot or cold drink shortly what is desired with baklava ( a Turkish dessert) by the guest but no alcohol. If they are hungry we serve food . Generally same things are cooked in each house such as rolled raisin leaves , seasonal salad , ashure or hoşaf ( made with dried raisins) sütlaç ( a kind of dessert made with rice and milk) , meat, a vegetable dish cooked with meat , baklava . Time is not important if the guests are hungry we prepare the table .

Dear Grandpa

I will start this year's first blog telling about my granpa. After my dad's parents' death when he was a kid, I unfortunately had the chance to know my granpa and grandma from my mother's side. Grandfather was the most interesting man i had ever known. He was able to speak 5 languages together with Turkish .He was fluent at Persian ,Arabic , Russian, and Kurdish. He was a faithful , honest and upright , compassionate man. He was very generous and a bit conservative traditionalist old fashioned Turkish man . Since I was his first granddaughter he often used to visit us everyday to fill my father's absence till I was 2 years old . Then my father was away from home for two years for his military service. When I was 4 they moved to another city. He used to travel to the east to trade and he stopped to visit us when he was passing by. I really felt the most happiest when he came. I used to wake up early and directly went to grandpa's room after morning prayers. He was a good teacher who taught me the basics of Islam. He often made jokes and between jokes he used to teach me about the basic principles of our religion and give me a quizz about the topic of the day. My favourites were of his travel stories. After he had passed away their big house was really empty .When he was alive there used to be a lot of guests and visitors and the cooker was always busy, there was always hot fresh food. Grandma was trying to continue this tradition, nothing was the same, though . I used to see him in my dreams sometimes and in the last dream he came and gave me a plant and said bye and I took a photo of him while he was going away on a train. Since then I have never seen him in any dreams. I really miss him . May he be rest in peace.