Turkey is a very religious country. There have been three religious events since I arrived, and seemingly everyone around has been out to celebrate each one.  The first was a jubilant affair, with bands of men running down the streets of İstanbul into the night banging drums and taxicabs honking their horns.

I was on an overnight bus to Cappadocia during the second. At one of the bus stops, three young men got on the bus and flipped through the channels on the bus television, and the pointedly got off the bus once they’d determined that they couldn’t watch the celebration on board. The festivities were broadcast over the radio, and when they were over, the entire bus broke into cheers and the driver honked his horn at the darkened desert road.

The third was not a happy night. The crew of the boat I was traveling on lay anchor in the small coastal town of Kaş and took all the passengers to a rooftop terrace to watch the event on television. Although there were some high points (which the townspeople celebrated with fireworks) ultimately the night ended very sadly, and the crowds gathered on the streets dissipated slowly. The crew escorted us back to our boat in near-silence and us tourists, as easily affected by sad sentiments as good, went to bed early.

The celebrations themselves are called “games,” and consist of eleven Turkish men kicking a “ball” into a net called a “goal.” Right now, all of the countries in Europe are graciously indulging Turkey in its religious celebrations by sending “teams” of their own to compete. The faith itself is called “football” (and in the U.S. it’s sometimes called “soccer”). You might have heard of it¹.

Each game is a part of a larger holiday season called the “Euro Cup.” Turkey was not expected to win as many games as it did and make it this far into the holiday season. The first and second games were tied up until the very end, when the Turkish team scored with just seconds remaining. The third Turkey lost to Germany in the last moments.

Turkey will play Russia for third place in the coming days, and I expect it to be every bit as exciting as the previous games.

1. Islam is another religion which is also practiced in Turkey, or so I’ve heard. There have been, however, no exciting Islamic games or festivals here since I’ve been here. [↩]