March
22
/ 2023
3,400 Muslim drummers dressed in Ottoman period costumes will march through 1000 Istanbul neighborhoods, reciting ancient poems before dawn, preserving “a beauty” from the month of Ramadan. Selami Aykut runs a federation of mukhtars in Istanbul, and he is in charge of the traditional Ramadan drummers. The term "mukhtar" comes from Arabic and means "chosen" or "elected," and refers to someone representing a local community. The mukhtars had completed “all their preparations for Ramadan in Istanbul,” said Aykut, before they set about preserving “one of the beauties” of the month of Ramadan - the Sahur ritual. But what on Earth is the Sahur ritual? And why is it regarded as one of the “beauties” of Ramadan? Drumming To The Moon
