Celebration of Holy Ramadan: The Case of Turkey

Ramadan is the holy month for all Muslim world. During this period, Muslim people have to  fast all day time. actually the basic purpose of this month is  not only fast but also stay away from all forbidden activities which are written in the Kur'an while fasting.

 if we examine with functional perspective, leisure is the basic institution in sociology and the main aim of it to let people  to be  a part of  in which he or she lives in. by doing so, the sense of belonging can be created in people.  similar to this, ramadan activities can be accepted as leisure time practices. since by taking a place in these practices such as Teravih (a kind of praying activity practiced during only ramadan month), the sense of being Muslim is recreated.

in addition to religious practices of ramadan, in Turkey there are different type of celebration facilities like festival during this month. this is very old custom  goes back to the time of Ottomans and afore. since the rising of religious tendencies in Turkey during last decades, these unforgetten activities have been remembered by particularly government and its agencies.  this recreated identity is accepted and liked by people. some claim that, by ramadan festival the spirit of "we" is recreated. 

ýn this presentation the tools of recreating "we" is examined in terms of Ramadan festivals in Turkey. these tools are investigated by symbolic interactionalist perspective.