Ramadan Feast

Ramadan Feast starts after Ramadan month (a month in Islamic calender) and lasts three days. It is one of the two important feasts for Muslims.

Ramadan is the holy month of fasting. In this month, Muslims refrain from eating and drinking during daylight hours. They avoid doing bad behaviours and they try not to commit any sin. It is all about patience and spirituality for the sake of God. For Muslim, Ramadan is the month of humility and spiritual purity. Muslims say ‘Ramadan is the Sultan of eleven months!”.


During Ramadan month, streets and mosques are adorned with various decorations. Scripts that include messages about goodness and kindness are hung on the minarets of mosques. In the evenings, city halls give dinner called ‘iftar’ and organize special shows where people have fun together.
After this fasting month, Muslims celebrate it for three days and called these days ‘Ramadan Feast’. During feast, they visit their grandparents and other relatives. In greetings, landlords give candies and banquets to their guests. Children also visit their neighbours and take candies.



In Ramadan Feast, people wear smart clothes and behave kindly. They help poor people and visit cemeteries for their relatives who passed away.
Ramadan Feast is also a public holiday. Government buildings, offices, banks and schools are closed for three days.

Written by Turkish Students

Christmas feast

Christmas is a special time of the year, a time when we celebrate Jesus' birth.
In ancient times, Christmas was celebrated in many different dates.

It was in the fourth century A.D. that the 25th December was established as the official date for Christmas in western Christianity. In ancient Rome, 25th December was a date in which Romans celebrated the beginning of winter. Therefore, we believe that there can be a relationship between this fact and Christmas official celebrating date.

The ancient celebrations of Christmas usually lasted 12 days, because it was the time that the Three Wise Men took, to arrive to the city of Bethlehem, to offer their presents – gold, myrrh and incense – to the baby Jesus.

Nowadays, people decorate a tree (usually a pine tree) and their homes with Christmas decorations in the beginning of December and remove them 12 days after Christmas.

Christmas is a very important date in almost all the world, due to Christian influence everywhere. Families join together and celebrate it exchanging gifts and joy. It is, nowadays, an historical, social and religious event.


Authoresses
Carolina Monteiro
Tânia Pires

Introducing Ourselves

Portugal@Turkey is a cyberspace place where Portuguese and Turkish young students (from Leiria and Istanbul respectively) will meet and present aspects of their own cultures.


Their teachers are convinced that each other's knowledge is essential to promote peace, which is one of this blog's main purposes.

We desire all visitors to enjoy the tour we all are about to start!