Socialising in Sivas

On Saturday night I was invited to two parties and they couldn't have been more different in every sense of the word.

The first was a circumcision "after party" held to celebrate the loss of foreskin by two brothers. In most Arab countries circumcision is preformed when the boy is a baby (well under one year old), but in Turkey the boys are any age between four and ten.

The party was held in a tea garden and around 100 people attended. The younger boy (about four)was running around having a great time, but the older brother (around six) was much less happy and sat quietly for most of the evening.

After that it was off to a wedding. Turks do things in reverse and have the party first and then the actually wedding, a much smaller affair, is held the following day. This party was in the street (or at least the men were in the street) as the wedding party is segregated, with the women in a screened off garden. That of course felt a bit odd in itself, though I am now much more used to this type of event after being in Kurdistan for a year.

First the band played for the men with a lot of vigorous dancing  and then went and played for the women who were having an equally good time judging by the hands waving in the air above the screen.

The family were very pleased to have a foreigner at the wedding and everyone wanted photos. In this photo the groom is on left and, no he is not getting married to the man next to him, though you would certainly have thought so. The guy next to the groom is the 'protector', sort of like the best man, who has the job of looking after the groom prior to getting married. He certainly did a sterling job as he never let go of his arm all evening.

While it might seem unusual to have a segregated, the same occurs at funerals which seems more  strange.