"New Year's Eve In Istanbul
The plastic Santas and fake pine trees that appear in shops immediately after Halloween make Istanbul, a city with a negligible number of Christians, look a bit like a Muslim-owned Wal-Mart during the holiday season. To Turks, 'Noel Bayram,' as Christmas is called in Turkish, is indistinguishable from New Year's Eve. This year Kurban Bayram, the Feast of the Sacrifice and one of the most important events on the Muslim calendar, fell on the third week of December. So, this month, the merriment that typically accompanies the ritual sacrifice of millions of sheep and goats collides with the trashy frippery of the west's Christmas and the drunken revelry of New Year celebrations on December 31. Places to join the madness after the jump."
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