The Top 5 Fascinating Turkish Traditions

The phenomenon of the Turkish bath, or hamam, is almost as old as Turkey itself. It has its roots in the importance for cleanliness in Muslim cultures and draws equally from Roman and Byzantine bathing traditions. Nowadays, we tend to think of the hamam as an indulgent spa treatment where you’re scrubbed within an inch of your hide in a steaming hot sauna room, but it also holds a vital role in everyday Turkish life. The Turkish hamam is a space where Turks of all walks of life congregate to trade gossip or discuss the day’s big issues. It also retains a ceremonial role in events surrounding births, marriages and deaths.

The Coffee House (or ‘kahve’) remains a thriving Turkish institution that’s refreshingly different from the coffee houses in the UK. Here, you can enjoy a small cup of super-strong, thick black Turkish coffee, poured from a special Turkish coffee pot and sweetened slightly by a spoonful of sugar crystals, while ruminating on the day’s events.
Coffee was introduced to Istanbul in the 16th century from Yemen. Such was its place in Turkish culture that the sultans even appointed their own Chief Coffee Makers (or ‘kahvecibaşıs’). Many kahves also double up as al fresco spots where you can partake in the hubbly bubbly or ‘nargile’ pipe, while locals play backgammon or chess outside.

Perhaps the most famous of Turkey’s many folk traditions is the spinning dance performed by the whirling dervishes. A dervish is a holy man who launches himself into an impressive display of spinning in order to be closer acquainted with God. Whirling is an important ritual of Sufism, a religious order of Islam that prides itself in its mystical and tolerant beliefs. You can watch the dervishes in Istanbul and especially in Konya, the inland city and birthplace of the medieval Sufi poet Rumi.