Day 12 (Continued)

We strolled through the bazaar for quite a bit, yesterday's trip having been aborted by Mustafa, and somehow managed to keep most of our Turkish Lira in our pockets. Instead, we focused on people watching and we finally asked somewhat what the "little king" costumes in all the clothing shops were. These outfits, for little boys, are suits, generally silk or satin, with a shoulder sash and crown a la Miss America. Well, here's the story (men take note). Jewish law requires that boys be circumcised at 7 days. Islamic law interprets whatever portion of the scriptures that deals with circumcision as requiring it at 7 *years.* That's right . . . boys get circumcised when they are SEVEN YEARS OLD! Apparently, in order to trick them into thinking that this is something fun and exciting, on the day they get circumcised, they have a big party (not unlike a bar mitzvah I gathered) and they get to be the king! And they get to wear their king costume for the whole week!

At the suggestion of the guide book, at dusk we climbed to the fortress on the top of the hill which overlooks Izmir and listened to the sounds of the muezzins calling the faithful to prayer. Because each mosque has a muezzin, and because there are so many mosques, it sounds like an echo rising up from the city, over the hill and into the heavens--a very spiritual experience, not unlike hearing the same haunting melody rising from the mist over the lakes near Srinigar. And, according to the British couple who were at least 80 years old and sitting at the cafe table next to us, it is also very romantic.

written by

shoshtrvls on June 13, 1996 from Izmir, Turkey

from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece (1996)

Send a Compliment

comment on this...