Past and Present...

Circumcision....now that I have your attention, here are a few things i have discovered about the way life is lived in Turkey. In Turkish culture, this is a day of celebration and right of passage in a boys life, usually taking place during the summer. Traditionally, this takes place between the ages of 6-9. The family will dress the little boy up in quite an amazing outfit, complete with scepter and hat, and take him to the most important places, like their local mosque, to meet with religious leaders. After the completion of the surgery, the best rests in a room while his family sits outside eating and drinking. Whenever he is ready and recuperated, he comes out to cheers and hugs while receiving many many gifts. They have done this same tradition for many centuries, and the rich even had circumcision rooms in the elaborate houses used solely for this. Now the problem with today's culture is that they still follow this practice except for the fact they usually have their little snip snip at birth. However, at the age when they traditionally would have it done, they still put on the outfit, go to the mosque, and still have the parties in celebration. That right there is a perfect example of how Turkey is stuck in the past, but still moving forward. They still follow traditions, like this one, but take the tradition and give it a curve ball to make it fit in today's world. This is one of many example's that i have seen while studying here. Another swing into modernity is with the public rest room's. In the airport, the bathroom was updated in some of the stalls, but not all. Some had regular toilets, but some still use the old method of a hole in the ground, set in a rectangular box that drops about 1/2 and inch down, and is slanted towards the whole, with a bucket and a water spicket right next to it, so when you were finished you could rinse it down. In such an updated place like an airport, having pedestrian traffic from all over the world, one would think that normal toilets are a must. However, with the Turkish government trying to please everyone, they updated some stalls and left some traditional so that they please both sides of the table. Very interesting…..
Next I would like to give everyone a bit of a history lesson (this is my, Did You Know, of the week). Turkey, a nation of a longer history than anywhere in the world, has given the world more than anyone has ever thought about really. Did you know that coffee was invented in Turkey…? When the Ottomans failed to take Vienna during a war, they decided to leave and not take any of their belongings. The Austrians then found their possessions, among them being coffee beans. They then found a written description of how to grind and make coffee. They also invented all wind and brass instruments. The Ottoman army used to have a marching band that would enter the war ahead of the army, in hopes their enemy would hear it and run away because of fear. Then they were heard and integrated into western Europe, going to the likes of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. Also….there is strong evidence to suggest that Native Americans were actually descendants of the Turks. This being that they have found history suggesting they crosses the Bearing Sea in Russia/Alaska and worked their way down through Canada to all of the what is today the U.S. You can find this influence actually in Native American history by looking at the designs and types of rugs made. All the designs, and actual words for what the rug is called is the same is both languages, giving more evidence to suggest that the Turk’s had major influencing even in the U.S. After hearing, and even seeing the history within this nation, I have come to consider this area and region as a possible more important cradle of civilization than the actual on that lies East of this beautiful nation.