When is Ramadan Eid in Turkey 2023?

The Ramadan Eid in countries such as Turkey is a time for families to get together, visit relatives, paying one’s respect to older people and join in activities such as sharing special meals. Sweets or traditional desserts are served for guests visiting home. Also, cemeteries and family members who passed away are visited a day before the Ramadan Feast to show respect. However, in recent years, it is considered as a holiday option rather than a family visit by most young people.

Ramazan Bayramı (Feast of Ramadan) is celebrated at the end of Ramadan month (Islamic calendar only) and people need to fast during 30 days between special time periods. However, this is also not common among young people. Finding open restaurants in the month of Ramadan in Istanbul is easy. However, eating in the street is not suggested for respecting people who fast till evening prayer which is the time to break fast.

Giving away sweets and desserts during the Ramadan festival, especially to children, is a very essential tradition in Turkey since early periods of the Ottoman Empire, so Ramadan Eid is also known as ‘Seker Bayrami‘ (Candy Feast) in Turkey. Children would go door-to-door to their neighbours, kissing the hands of the grown-ups and receiving sweets and small amounts of money in return however, during coronavirus restrictions, it’s not allowed. Of course, these traditions are not applied in every Muslim country.

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In Turkey Ramadan Feast will be celebrated on April 21 in 2023 .

It is strictly forbidden to fast the first day of the holiday, so a light breakfast is recommended as a sign of not fasting that day. Then, as a prophetic tradition, the obligatory charity, is paid to the poor and the needy. Afterwards, the men perform the Bayram (Eid) prayer in their neighborhood mosques.

 Many people wake up early on the first day of the Ramadan Feast. They put on their best clothes, called bayramlık, which they often buy specifically for the occasion, and have a large breakfast. This symbolizes the end of the fasting period, which many Muslims observe during the preceding month of Ramadan. The rest of the three days, people visit relatives and friends, and may also go to the graveyards to pay their respect to the deceased.

Normally, every year during the Ramadan Feast, Turkish shadow plays such as Karagöz and Hacivat are popular, and children can watch them for free at fairs. The contrasted interactions between the two major characters constitute the plays’ central focus. In the Turkish version, Karagöz symbolizes the illiterate but straight forward public, whereas Hacivat represents the educated class, speaking Ottoman Turkish and utilizing a poetical and literary style. The most famous place for watching Karagöz and Hacivat is Sultanahmet square. But last 2 years because of the Covid-19 restriction, it is not allowed.

Is Ramadan Feast 2023 (Ramadan Eid 2023) a public holiday in Turkey?

Ramadan Feast is a public holiday. It is a day off for the general population, state offices, schools and most businesses are closed. However, most museums are closed only for a half day on the first day of the Eid. Your local travel agency in Istanbul will consider this while planning your holiday in Turkey 2023. However, you may need to consider extraordinary traffic conditions between cities as well. In this period, most people will be travelling to their hometown and back to the cities they work, so highways and airports may be overcrowded and in the process of planning your holiday you had better remember it.

Booking your domestic flights, train and bus tickets will save your money. For further assistance, you can contact our travel consultants who will be happy to help you to plan your private Turkey tour in 2023.

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