Ramazan Bayramı

Ramazan Bayramı is Turkey’s three-day end-of-Ramadan holiday of prayers, family visits, hand-kissing, sweets, and children’s gifts.

Şeker Bayramı, concluding Ramadan, when families visit elders to kiss their hands and children receive sweets and money.

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Opens Mar 10, closes Mar 11 · 48 hours

what Ramazan Bayramı is

Ramazan Bayramı, also called Şeker Bayramı, begins on the first day of Şevval, the month that follows Ramadan in the Islamic lunar calendar. In Turkey it lasts three days, so its date changes every year on the Gregorian calendar. The day before is arefe, when many families finish holiday shopping, clean the house, prepare desserts, and travel to their hometowns if they can. On bayram morning, people dress neatly, and many go to the mosque for the bayram namazı, the special Eid prayer held shortly after sunrise. After the prayer, neighbors greet one another with “İyi bayramlar” or “Bayramınız kutlu olsun” before family visiting begins.

The center of the day is visiting older relatives. Younger family members greet elders by kissing the back of their hand and touching it to their forehead, a sign of respect known simply as el öpmek. Hosts often offer kolonya, chocolate, Turkish delight, baklava, and bowls of candy, which is why many people still say Şeker Bayramı. Children usually collect sweets from house to house and may receive bayram harçlığı, small gifts of money, from grandparents and other elders. Families who live far away make phone or video calls, and some also visit cemeteries to pray for deceased relatives during arefe or on one of the bayram days.

what you'll learn5 domains

The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.

Bayram greetingsWords and phrases people say when congratulating relatives, neighbors, and elders during the holiday.

Day scheduleVocabulary for arefe, the morning prayer, visits, travel, and the order of events through the three days.

Family visitsWords for elders, younger relatives, grandparents, and the social rounds that define Ramazan Bayramı.

Sweets and treatsNames for the candy, baklava, Turkish delight, and other foods commonly served to guests.

Respect customsExpressions tied to hand-kissing, offering kolonya, giving harçlık, and other specifically Bayram practices.

the run — three rounds, about three minutes, unlimited practice

Round 1 · MatchPair the word with its meaning. Six pairs, one attempt each.

Round 2 · SpellType the word you hear, accents and all. Beginners see the meaning and complete the word instead.

Round 3 · MeaningSix questions on what happens at Ramazan Bayramı and what it is called.

how scoring works

How you are ranked

1AccuracyEvery correct answer counts the same. Anything you leave unanswered counts as wrong.

2Time, only to break tiesTime is read only when two people have the same accuracy. It never beats a better score.

For example

1100%3:41Marta

2100%4:02Joan — same score, slower

397%2:10Núria — fastest, still third

Two separate boards

BeginnerAdvanced

Same words in both. Beginner gets more help: matching and completing. Advanced listens and spells it out unaided. Pick it in practice; it locks when you take the scored run.

One scored run

Practise as often as you like, all year. The scored run happens once, while the competition is open, and cannot be retaken.