The centuries-old custom of drumming to wake folks earlier than sahur time in Ramadan has endured new applied sciences and telephone alarms, as no less than 3,400 drummers of various age teams will take to the streets in Istanbul in the course of the subsequent 29 days, the chairperson of the mukhtars affiliation stated on Tuesday.
Dressed in costumes relationship again to Ottoman instances, drummers dispersed throughout streets in 963 neighborhoods of Türkiye’s most populous metropolis are able to be again on obligation and wake the Muslim trustworthy by beating their drums and reciting brief poems earlier than daybreak that marks the beginning of fasting.
Selami Aykut, who heads a federation of mukhtars in Istanbul accountable for conventional Ramadan drummers, acknowledged that the drummers had accomplished all their preparations for Ramadan in Istanbul, emphasizing that this custom relationship to the Ottoman period is without doubt one of the beauties of the month of Ramadan. “We struggle to keep this tradition alive with our 963 mukhtars and drummers in Istanbul. Accordingly, we first determined our Ramadan drummers with our mukhtars and looked for suitable clothes for (them),” Aykut stated.
Stating that some drummers assigned in every neighborhood have been working in the identical space for years, Aykut famous that this custom is usually stored alive over the generations and handed on from fathers to sons. Adding that the drummers bear coaching earlier than starting with their obligation, Aykut famous that trainees who cross an evaluation are handed the “Ramadan drummer” card and are then able to carry out this distinctive one-month occupation.
Emphasizing that drumming is a job and that not simply anybody can do it, Aykut stated that residents ought to take note of the accreditation of the drummers underlining that this distinctive tradition of Ramadan should be protected and preserved for future generations.
”We want to inform our youngsters and youth the tradition of Ramadan and the beauties of Ramadan. These are our values; we’ve to guard them,” he concluded.
Source: www.dailysabah.com