Children's Day

Yesterday was a big holiday. It was Sovereignty and Children's Day. I've pulled some tidbits of information from various websites for a quick summary of this holiday. Turkey was previously Ottoman Empire and went to war to gain independence from occupation. It was April 23, 1920 when they laid down the foundations of an "independent, secular, modern republic." Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, "dedicated sovereignty day to the children and entrusted in the hands of the youth the protection of this sovereignty and independence." They do a big celebration every year.

Aside from this celebration, there is a pilgrimage on Children's Day every year. I am not sure why it's on Children's Day or even if they are related. Thousands (I've heard anywhere between 20,000 to 50,000) pilgrims travel from Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, etc to make the trip to the island and up a big hill (small mountain?) to a Greek monastery perched at the top. The island is a 30-min ferry ride away the city. There are no motor vehicles allowed on the island and residents and tourists travel by foot, bike, or horse and carriage.

This pilgrimage has some traditions entwined into it. Pilgrims run spools of thread starting at the bottom of the hill that monastery is perched on, all the way up the monastery itself. Why? No one knows. Maybe people think it brings them good luck. People also buy different colored candles (each color represent something you need prayer for like house, destiny, marriage, children, protection, etc) to light up at the monastery. They go there to pray for whatever they want/need - protection, healing, etc. And it isn't just the Greek Orthodox believers that go - there are also Muslims and people of other faiths. We saw a great many foreigners there. In addition to candles and threads, we also saw people buying small boxes of cubed sugar to pass out for free. Why? Maybe it's to curry favor from the Supreme Being above. We also saw cheap pins, coins, rings tied with different color ribbons representing the same things as the candles for sale. I'm not sure what they do those. Other things we saw were small piles of rocks on top of a rock wall leading up to the monastery which was also covered with candles. We saw strips of cloth tied on branches and trees for...good luck?

My language teacher makes this pilgrimage every year. She invited myself, G, and A to go with her, her husband, and two friends. On this perfectly gorgeous day, our little band met at the ferry and took it across to the island. Getting off the ferry, we were instantly met with an immense crowd. We got into line to wait for a horse and carriage to ride up to the top -- it ended up being a hour and half wait in the bright sunshine. The long wait and the jostling crowd began testing our patience a bit. We finally got onto a horse and carriage and enjoyed a ride through the picturesque island to the bottom of a big hill where the monastery was. We were met again with a crowd when we got out of the carriage.

We pushed A in a stroller up the rough, cobblestone road (it was ROUGH) amid the crowd coming down and the crowd going up. It was getting hot and our patience was wearing thinner and thinner. It felt like a mile up the hill. Poor A was such a trooper the entire day, hardly fussing except when she was bored with waiting or when she wanted out of the stroller. Even then, it was minimal. Then she was jostled up the road in a stroller, which was probably an uncomfortable ride. The stroller kept getting snagged in the millions of threads laid down by pilgrims. We were getting tangled in them and were snapping the threads to release ourselves.

By the time we made it to the top, the crowds outside the monastery were so dense that we didn't think we could get through to the monastery itself with the stroller. It was past A's nap time and she hadn't been to the potty yet. I was allowing for some irritability from fatigue (even though she was doing amazingly well) but I knew forcing her to endure the heat in a crowd, standing stock-still, waiting just to see a building would be too hard on her. We decided to part ways with our national friends and head back down the hill. By the time we arrived at the bottom and broke free of the crowds, we enjoyed the island breezes, the surroundings, and the sunshine. A enjoyed seeing all the horses. We walked the rest of the way down the island to the ferry. We didn't know the ferry made stops at all the islands on the way back to mainland so it was an hour-long ferry ride. Not a bad ending to a long day.

Despite the crowds, we enjoyed the island. It is beautiful with the surrounding sea, pine trees, old-fashioned houses, scenic overlooks, etc. We would love to return to the island on a normal day (in other words, without the crowds) and explore.

On the ferry to the island

My language teacher's husband on right, his friend on left - hilarious guys

My sweet language teacher

Morning boat out to sea

Rusted bike

Fun ride

Note how crowded it is 

Love the rich detailing

Horse/carriage and biking

Road up the hill to monastery, covered in threads

Found a break in the crowd to snap the threads on the ground

Scenic view of seagull and neighboring island

One of the many neat houses with Ottoman era architecture

Ferry stop at another island; a mosque by the sea

(If you are currently on the blog website itself, you can click on a picture and get a slideshow of the pictures in the post, with a bigger and better view of the pictures.)