The Bairam festival after Ramadan lasts three days, and is not unlike our Christmas. The master of a house gives each servant a suit of clothes or some other presents, and the working people generally go round to call on those from whom they may hope to extract gifts. Everybody goes to the mosque to say his prayers, and friends who meet there indulge in a good deal of embracing and kissing. They visit each others’ houses and have a good time generally, and altogether the festival of Bairam puts the city in a very picturesque condition.
CHAPTER X—THE MOSQUES—FAITH AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE MUSSULMANS.
Among the Mosques—Their Special Uses—Greek Burglars, their Capture and Execution—A “Firman,” What is it—A Turkish Dragoman—A Relic of Ancient Byzantium—Its Name and Origin—Taking a Portrait—Turkish Superstitions—Worshipping in St. Sophia—Moslem Fanatics—Counting the Minarets—What came of a Wet Pair of Boots—The Judge in a Tight Place—The “Doubter” commits Sacrilege—Uncovering a Sarcophagus—Attacked by the Priests—Barefooted Worshippers—Teachings of the Koran—Cleanliness and Temperance—Why Turkish Women do not go to the Mosques—Why good Mussulmans never get Drunk.
SIGHT-SEEING in the capital of Turkey would be incomplete if it did not include the mosques. Mosques are to the Orient what churches are to the Occident, and are used for the same purpose—the assemblage of the faithful for religious worship. The Moslem goes to the mosque to say his prayers, when he can do so conveniently, especially on Friday, which holds the same place in Mohammedan countries that Sunday does in ours. But the purpose of the mosque goes somewhat beyond that of the church in Christian lands, and in some respects sets an example worthy of our attention.