ST NICHOLAS (BORN IN TURKEY)
Did you know the figure of Father Christmas (Santa Claus) is based on St Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara, originally called Lycia (2 hrs from Dalyan where there are also the ruins of an ancient Roman city).
At the time the area was Greek but is now on the southern coast of Turkey. St Nicholas wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus’ words to “sell what you own and give the money to the poor,” Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man.
Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships. The anniversary of his death, 6th December, became a day to exchange gifts.
Note: Myra 2.5 hrs from Dalyan has a museum dedicated to St Nicholas visited by many thousands every year a place of pilgramage for many foreigners.
See photo’s attached showing the various images of him plus the island named after him (1.5 hours from Dalyan – near to Kaya Koy also known as The Ghost Village) and the other historical and beautiful surrounding areas, plus you can click on the following link for more details about him, http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38.
WHY WE SAY PRESENTS ARE DELIVERED DOWN THE CHIMNEY!
One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman’s father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man’s daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. Another version is that one time there wasn’t an open window and so the bags of gold were dropped down the chimney. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.
ST NICHOLAS – A DIFFERENT VERSION?
A couple of years ago I sent the above to a Greek guest, Angelos, who replied:
The song we sing here is Santa (for us Santa Vasili or Basili with the same love to children like Santa Nicolas in the western culture) is coming from “Kesaria” which in Turkish is Kayseri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayseri) located in central Turkey. So yes according to the Greek’s he comes from Turkey as we know it nowadays, but from the Anatolia regent in the center of Turkey.
And according to wikipedia again (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_of_Caesarea)
“in Greek tradition, his name was given to Father Christmas and he is supposed to visit children and give presents every January 1 (St Basil’s Day) — unlike other traditions where Saint Nicholas arrives either on December 6 (Saint Nicholas Day) or on Christmas Eve (December 24). It is traditional on St Basil’s Day to serve “Vasilopita”, a rich bread baked with a coin inside. It is customary on his feast day to visit the homes of friends and relatives, to sing New Year carols, and to set an extra place at the table for Saint Basil. In Greek tradition and according to historical records, St Basil, of Greek heritage, is the original “Father Christmas”, who being born into a wealthy family, gave away all his possessions to the poor and those in need, the underprivileged and children.[39] A similar story exists for another Greek bishop, St. Nicholas of Myra.
Over the centuries the two have been merged but the Western “Santa Claus” is St. Nicholas and the Eastern “Santa Claus” is St. Basil. Interestingly, I did not know that, St. Nicholas was a Bishop too with a similar story with St Basil. I guess this mix up comes from the fathers of the Church who after the schism tried to find reasons to distinguish the two churches that took separate ways without giving up on the original traditions but needed to make them a little different so they could justify the two different approaches of the main idea :-).
Engagement / Wedding/ Hen & Stag Party
Serdar’s Snippets (owner of Digby’s Café) –
Learn about Turkish Culture
We have had a few coffees at Digby’s over the last few weeks, giving ourselves a break at the end of the day – it is very quiet at Spectrum with just the two of us! We went with Serdar and his wife, Mine pronounced Minnie), to Fethiye because they had never been before, so we were their tour guides. When we were in the old part, with Ottoman style windows and the amphitheatre nearby, I pointed to a jewellery shop where we bought my engagement and wedding ring (that’s another story, another time!). Serdar explained that they don’t have engagement rings in Turkey, they simply buy a wedding ring and place it on the ring finger of their right hand, transferring it to the left hand when they get married. I doubt the idea will catch on in the UK!
Photo of Hanife’s engagement: here she is with Hasan, her huband, his parents and his father’s Mum – some of you have met them on the farm near Spectrum, where our apartment is.
We didn’t know that before, nor did we realise that when Turkish people get married, very often they have the registry office/serve part of the wedding but don’t actually live together until after the “reception celebrations” (best way to describe it) which could be 3 months later! The bride doesn’t wear a white wedding dress at this service, like Hanife, she wore a smart suit unless the reception is on the same day. Hanife wore her white wedding dress with red sash at her “reception” celebrations.
Generally, from our experience, there is no food or drink provided, so it’s just a night of dancing, dancing, dancing with a break when it’s time to pin money on the bride & groom, or they are given jewellery – that’s why you see lots of gold bangles in jewellery shops in Ortaca and Fethiye, not so much in Dalyan. It’s also why they can afford to invite hundreds of people because it doesn’t cost them much to have so many guests, well apart from giving pieces of wedding cake! We’ve had more wedding invitations here in the last 10 years than we’ve had all the years we lived in the UK.
The hen party is nothing like you’d expect either. The bride to be usually has a lovely new frock – often like a wedding dress, not white of course but similar to what you can see from what Hanife is wearing for her engagement celebrations – and there’s music and lots of dancing of course with the added tradition of a blob of henna on the palm of their hands and finger tips. At one function I saw what I thought was a cake with candles and was thinking the cake wasn’t big enough for everyone to get a piece, so you can imagine my surprise when a young lady came over to me with a napkin but instead it holding a piece of cake there was a blob of henna! I think it’s a shame they don’t apply the henna like they would in India, such beautiful patterns. When you see their hands against the white of their wedding dress it doesn’t look very pretty, in fact they look like incredibly heavy smokers!
However the stag party is very different because there is food and drink! Let me tell you how we found out the difference:
Many years ago when we first lived here, Tom told me we’d been invited to a wedding which was in the garden – actually more like a field – only metres from our apartment, a relation of our landlord. I was surprised to see the bride in a peach marble coloured dress; I thought she was very modern not wearing white! I commented that there weren’t many men at this wedding and then a man we knew came and had a word with Tom and off he went, disappeared for the rest of the night. I didn’t know where he’d gone, until he returned home quite merry, denying that alcohol had been served! I felt like a lucky mascot, a yabanci (foreigner) being at the hen party as it turned out to be (I kept waiting thinking the groom was going to turn up sometime!), they kept asking me to join in with the dancing and I’d often end up in the middle with them all dancing around me! I left eventually because I was hungry – Tom had told me there would be food and drink which I thought was unusual for a wedding (!) but of course he was alright, wherever he went.
I’ve put a clip of Hanife’s wedding on YouTube where you can see the sashes they were wearing pinned with money, see them and many of their guests dancing plus how Turkish people respectfully kiss their elders. Their wedding was held in Gocek, where Hanife is from and her parents and other family members still live –their homes are on the mountain overlooking the marina where most of you have sailed from when doing the 12 islands boat trip. There’s no need to hire a hall here when you can simply use an “open space” or the special salons built for wedding celebrations. Their engagement celebrations were held where the weekly market is situated, not exactly a pretty location but who cares when you are simply dancing all night? Their wedding was in a more special location, actually in the modern amphitheatre at the far end of the marina, alongside the. See YouTube: http://youtu.be/n8kDcwSh1pQ
These are just our experiences of local weddings, hen parties etc. Many families in Dalyan follow a more traditional Turkish village life style which is probably a very different experience than in Istanbul where some of you live
Reasons to Holiday in Turkey
We must dare, and dare again and go on daring
– George Jacques Danton
Turkey provides all the ingredients for a perfect holiday, not only sun, azure blue seas and an excellent cuisine, but as a country that spans two continents and 10,000 years of civilisation, it offers a wealth of cultural experiences. Turkey is a treasure throve of history, fine remnants of a bygone age and magnificent ancient sites such as Ephesus, the Lycian rock tombs of Dalyan, Caunos, Didyma and Miletus to name but a few. The land of the Trojan wars and the exotic Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey is a magnificent country with warm friendly and extremely hospitable people; incomparable scenery of majestic pine clad mountains, spectacular rushing rivers, sandy beaches and exquisite little coves, often accessible only by sea The countryside is lush with fertile plains of cotton, grain, sesame and tobacco, tended by women wearing the brightly hued traditional costumes of their region.
Part of the pleasure of a foreign holiday is the chance to watch animals and birds in the wild that you would never encounter at home. With its mixture ofmountains, forests, rivers, reed beds, marshlands and coastal areas, birds are well catered for! Amongst these are Bee Eaters, Buzzards, Golden Orioles, Yellow Headed Buntings, Rollers and even a Lesser Spotted Eagle. Springtime is always awaited with much enthusiasm by the locals as this is the time when the White Stork returns from wintering in southern Africa and traditionally the presence of an occupied nest is regarded as a sign of good fortune.
Insect and butterfly lovers will be impressed by the beautifully coloured damsel flies and dragonflies, butterflies and moths. Invariably any car or bus journey has to come to a halt to allow a tortoise to cross the road, some boat trips in the Bay of Gokova are accompanied by a school of dolphins, and one really lucky lady was escorted on her snorkelling voyage by a Loggerhead Turtle.
We must dare, and dare again and go on daring
– George Jacques Danton
Turkey provides all the ingredients for a perfect holiday, not only sun, azure blue seas and an excellent cuisine, but as a country that spans two continents and 10,000 years of civilisation, it offers a wealth of cultural experiences. Turkey is a treasure throve of history, fine remnants of a bygone age and magnificent ancient sites such as Ephesus, the Lycian rock tombs of Dalyan, Caunos, Didyma and Miletus to name but a few. The land of the Trojan wars and the exotic Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey is a magnificent country with warm friendly and extremely hospitable people; incomparable scenery of majestic pine clad mountains, spectacular rushing rivers, sandy beaches and exquisite little coves, often accessible only by sea The countryside is lush with fertile plains of cotton, grain, sesame and tobacco, tended by women wearing the brightly hued traditional costumes of their region.
Part of the pleasure of a foreign holiday is the chance to watch animals and birds in the wild that you would never encounter at home. With its mixture ofmountains, forests, rivers, reed beds, marshlands and coastal areas, birds are well catered for! Amongst these are Bee Eaters, Buzzards, Golden Orioles, Yellow Headed Buntings, Rollers and even a Lesser Spotted Eagle. Springtime is always awaited with much enthusiasm by the locals as this is the time when the White Stork returns from wintering in southern Africa and traditionally the presence of an occupied nest is regarded as a sign of good fortune.
Insect and butterfly lovers will be impressed by the beautifully coloured damsel flies and dragonflies, butterflies and moths. Invariably any car or bus journey has to come to a halt to allow a tortoise to cross the road, some boat trips in the Bay of Gokova are accompanied by a school of dolphins, and one really lucky lady was escorted on her snorkelling voyage by a Loggerhead Turtle.
ANCIENT HISTORICAL SITES
Turkey is thought of as the centre of ancient civilisation briding Europe with Asia. Ephesus is a truly stunning ancient city approx 3 hours from Dalyan, near the tourist resorts of Kusadasi and Bodrum. Pamukkale is spectacular, it looks like a ski resort when you approach the lime covering hillside with hot springs that have created natural spa pools. Tour companies arrange tours to both of these sites and each is surrounded by many other ancient treasures such as St John’s castle, St Luke’s Tomb, St Mary’s Church, the ancient ruins of Aphrodisia and much, much more.
THE GHOST VILLAGE – KAYKOY
This is a must on your excursion list, a visit that can be enhanced by reading Birds Without Wings (see below to order your copy from Amazon) which will give you a good insight into what life was like for the Greeks and Turks living together in the village. In 1923 they were forced to separate (Greeks had to go back to Greece – even though many were born here and felt like they were Turks, albeit they spoke Greek) and Turkish people living in Greece had to come back to Turkey but strangely none took advantage of the empty homes that had to be abandoned (mainly due to superstitions). It’s a fascinating place to visit, somewhere you might want to visit several times to really get the feel of it plus it’s not too far from Gemiler Beach (opposite St Nicholas Island), just over the mountain from Fethiye harbourside and quite near to Olu Deniz too.
To learn more search on google for the following article:
Abandoned Kayaköy a symbol of war’s painful consequences
JANE AKATAY – FETHİYE, Muğla – Hürriyet News Agency
JEEP SAFARI
There are a variety of jeep safaris that you can choose from. We did our own private trip in 2003 where we travelled around the vast Koycegiz lake to reach the mountains on the other side of the river from Dalyan. Our guests learned how the African slaves were brought to the region and what happened when they gained their freedom you will see their influence enroute ie basket woven and mud brick houses. Lunch is usually served at a traditional Turkish restaurant or even a Turkish persons own home. After lunch we saw olives being pressed to obtain olive oil either by the belt driven pulleys and rollers or the more modern electric motor system. Then we continued to climb the mountains where you will can see some spectacular views of Turtle beach, the Mediterranean, Dalyan village, snow capped mountains in the distance and the surrounding towns.
CAUNOS
The original harbour of Dalyan, which served as a major port for the Roman army. Over the last 1,500 years it has silted up creating a fresh water delta on which Dalyan now survives. There are many interesting Roman ruins here eg amphitheatre, library and church. The Rocks tombs are enroute to Caunos so if you feel you have enough energy you can climb these too, alternatively you can visit another day taking the small rowing boat across the river which costs approx 2 pounds.
SURROUNDING AREAS: OLU DENIZ, HISARONU & FETHIYE
We can hire a car to take us to this part of Turkey (approximately 1hr away), stopping to take pictures of views such as the one on the left. We will visit the lagoon at Olu Deniz, one of the most photographed beaches in Turkey, Olu Deniz means ‘dead’ or ‘calm sea’ in Turkish – there are hardly any waves in the sea but it’s even more sheltered behind the bay in the lagoon and there. We can then take you through the ‘Ghost Village’ – where the Greeks lived until they were ousted in the 1920’s – and continue meandering down the road to a beautiful bay overlooking St Nicholas Island (did you know Santa came from Turkey?). As you can see from the view of the bay (taken from the island) most visitors arrive via boat. It still looks beautiful even on a dull day
MOONLIGHT CRUISE
Similar to the above but commencing early evening. The night sky in Turkey is spectacular, this is one not to be missed. Telescopes and charts showing the constellations will be available, in addition to printouts displaying the stars on display that night – compare it to previous ones and see how it changes during the season.
12 ISLAND CRUISE
A private bus takes you on a 30 minute journey over the mountain to Gocek a premier sailing port with many fine yachts and seafront restaurants, the gateway for the 12 islands cruises. During this excursion the boat stops at 5 different bays for a swim, Cleopatra’s baths, the remains of a lighthouse under the sea on which you can stand in the middle of the water and a bbq. We usually do this trip every week, which should give you an indication as to how wonderful we think this cruise, is.
BOAT TRIPS
From Dalyan harbour you can use the public co-operative boats for their regular trips or hire a private boat. Some trips sail out to sea (visiting other bays and beaches), or up to lake Koycegiz. This lake is over 12km long, with its beautifully clear and cool waters is well worth a visit, if only to take a dip and cool down. You have the option of the mud baths & hot springs (Sting and Dustin Hoffman have been photographed here when they visited to show their support for the region) with a BBQ on a small-secluded beach, or the Garden of Eden where you can dine in traditional tree houses and relax afterwards in one of the many hammocks.
Iztuzu/Turtle Beach
Iztuzu beach can be reached by local bus, approx 20 minutes over the mountain with spectacular views – this will cost about £3.00 return. Alternatively go to the other end (named Turtle beach) via a ‘water taxi’ (large flat bottomed boat) and sail down the river for about 40 minutes for the same price. If you are lucky you may even see a turtle or some of the local birds – kingfishers, storks and purple herons to name but a few. You can walk from one end to the other in 45 minutes.