It’s starting to look a lot like … New Year’s?

If I didn’t know better, I would think that Turkey, an almost entirely Muslim country, was celebrating Christmas.  All the malls and shopping centers in Ankara are decorated like this:

Even though that’s Santa Claus, here in Turkey we’re actually celebrating New Year’s.  In the last week I’ve been to several New Year parties with predominantly red and green stuff everywhere.  We even sang Christmas carols at one, and got gifts from under the tree at another.  It takes an hour to find a parking spot at the mall, and every shop is offering holiday sales and pre-wrapped items.  On New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, everybody gathers around the tree and opens presents.  Usually there are parties and family celebrations.

So what’s this all about? A Turkish friend told me that Turks love to decorate, so in order to have the tree and the lights they just adopted the non-religious aspects of the Western Christmas traditions and then Turkified it by doing it all in the name of a Happy New Year.

I think some people love to decorate, and some people just love to party.  Either way, it works for me!

this store is on a street with so many lights that I think it’s brighter at night than during the day.