Three Unique Turkish Festivals - Oil Wrestling, Mesir and the Apricot Festival

Turkish festivals reflect their rich cultural heritage. To keep their Anatolian culture alive, Turks celebrate festivals, traditionally. These festivals not only unite the people but also remind them of their glorious past, which was famous for arts and cultural values. Major festivals of Turkey include the Carpet Festival, the Apricot Festival and other Arts and Cultural activities that have taken shape of popular festivals in the country. Here we are going to talk about the three most popular Turkish Festivals of Turkey.

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The month of June-July sees the beginning of the 600-year-old Oil Wrestling Festival in Istanbul. Oil wrestling is a sport with a centuries old tradition in Turkey and is taken very seriously. It's also a spectacle to behold! The competing wrestlers don leather trousers, which weigh no less than 13 kilograms. They then proceed to smother the rest of their bodies with a thick layer of glistening olive oil. To the cheering of the crowd, they start to have a vicious go at each other. Not only is the overall winner declared Champion of Turkey, but he can also cash a hefty $100,000 reward check. If anyone manages to win the championship title for three years in a row, he is presented with a 14-carat gold Championship belt. From 4^{th -} 10^th July 2011, the Turks celebrated the 650^th Kirpinkar Oil Wrestling Festival.

So far, the wrestling is restricted to the male sex, but who knows what the future holds?

The Mesir festival in Manisa, which is celebrated in March, is in the honor of a charitable soul. It is celebrated in the honor of Hafsa Haflun, one of the wives of an Ottoman Sultan. Apparently, the woman in question took pity on the ailments of the poor who couldn't afford expensive medicines and doctors. She proceeded to invent a remedy consisting of 41 different spices, which is called "mesir" and was distributed to the people free.

Mesir can be translated to "power concoction" and is considered an all-purpose remedy, which could, and obviously did, cure many ailments. How much of the benefits were imagination and how much was down to reality is a matter of speculation. However, the fact remains that her grateful people, and all the generations after them for nearly 500 years, continue to honor the Lady Hafsa in the annual festival. An important part of this festival is that handfuls of the magic powder are thrown from the minaret of the Sultan's mosque.

The 471^st Mesir festival was celebrated from 21 March to 27 March 2011 in Manisa.

The Apricot Festival is a crop festival, which is celebrated in the first week of July. It is celebrated as a harvest festival and it holds prime religious significance in the country. The festival is celebrated in Malatya, the Apricot Capital of the country. The importance of harvest festivals in any culture is found in the belief that the harvest and crops bring prosperity. This belief is why harvest festivals often have religious significance, as people thank their deities for their blessings. Malatya celebrates its Apricot Festival with sports activities, concerts and apricot activities.

It's not that Turkey celebrates festivals of one religion only. It is a multicultural country and its relationship with Santa Claus will explain why this country is also famous among the Christians of the world.

The 6th of December sees the St. Nicholas festival in Demre. Improbable as it may seem, it is the same saint who is reincarnated in the mystical figure of Santa Claus and brings Christmas presents to children all over the world. Not too much is known about the original Nicholas, other than that he was a bishop who, in the 4th century, lived in Myra, which today is Turkey. He died on December 6 in that town and his remains are buried in the Martyr Church. On the other hand, maybe not, because legend has it that in the 11th century, pirates from Bari, Italy vandalized the church and stole his bones. Nevertheless, relics or not, December 6 is the occasion for a cheerful festival to commemorate the saint. His connection to today's Santa Claus as the harbinger of gifts is, again, a matter of legend.

The famous story goes that the Bishop Nicholas heard of a poor man who had three daughters he was unable to marry off, because he couldn't afford their dowries. Since he couldn't continue to feed them either, he decided to sell them off to a brothel to earn their keep as prostitutes. Nicholas heard about their plight and secretly threw three purses full of gold through the poor man's window to save the girls from disgrace and a terrible fate. Of course, he was discovered as the benefactor, as otherwise, there wouldn't be a festival.

These unusual holidays and festivals of Turkey have, today, become an integral part of their culture and society.