Turkey

How do Turkish people greet older relatives?

This week’s cultural expertise quiz question comes from Sinan, our contributor in Turkey.

You’re a young Turk and you visit your grandfather. When you first see him you bow toward him, hold his hand lightly with his palm facing downward, kiss it and then touch your forehead on his hand as a sign of respect.

True or false?

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Tulip: Symbol of abundance, indulgence and Istanbul

Since 2006, every April Istanbul hosts International Tulip Festival. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality plants millions of tulips in the city’s public grounds, concerts & art exhibitions are organized and a photography competition for “Best Tulip” is held.

Some might say, “Wait a minute! Holland is the country of tulips. What has tulip got to do with Istanbul or Turkey?”. Well, let’s take a glimpse of history.

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Naming children: traditions in 13 different countries

How are children’s names chosen in your country? Do you follow ancient naming traditions or are modern names more popular? Do you pass names down through family generations or invent new ones?

We’ve had a lot of fun writing this post and the subject of how children are named in our various countries has inspired a lot of discussion within our team of contributors. So, read on to find out how children’s names are chosen in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the USA.

Have something to add? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

There aren’t many clear-cut naming traditions in Argentina nowadays. In the past, first-born babies were named after their parents but now the focus is on distinctiveness. Parents choose names they like or that are fashionable. For example, when Argentinean-born Maxima Zorriegueta married Crown Prince Wilhelm-Alexander of the Netherlands, the name Maxima became very popular.

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Capturing the soul of Istanbul

It is said that Native Americans and Australian Aborigines used to refuse to be photographed, claiming a photograph will steal or capture their soul. Indeed, a photograph could capture the soul of a city.

The first bridge in the fog, by Brian Underdown

British expat Brian Underdown just does so. He takes photos of the city, where he lives in and shares them on his blog istanbulblogger.com. Brian is a professional photographer for over 25 years and lives in Istanbul since 2009. His work appeared on Hürriyet national daily newspaper and TimeOut Istanbul magazine besides numerous other magazines.

Istanbulblogger.com has two main sections; “Istanbul Life” and “Istanbul Photography”. While “Istanbul Life” section doubles as the author’s journal, the main emphasis of the blog is on the photography section.

Topics of the blog depends on the daily observations of Brian and varies from “The Dancing Birds over Besiktas” (Besiktas is a district in Istanbul) to “Sapphire above Istanbul” (Sapphire is the tallest building in Europe). Even though I also live in Istanbul (Asian side), sometimes I find out what’s happening on European side (e.g. first snow fall etc.), thanks to Istanbulblogger.

Updates of Istanbulblogger.com could be followed via Twitter on @istanbulblogger

Read more:
More Turkish blogs on Blogs of the World
Salep: Messenger of winter in Turkey
Flowers around the globe in our Picture Postcards series

Picture Postcards: Flowers around the globe

We’ve had such an amazing number of flower photos contributed this month that we thought we’d finish up with a bit of a global montage (Cue the music!).

Typical flowers at Chirripó in Costa Rica by Nuriacr on Flickr

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Tipping etiquette around the world

A girl from America, a girl from France, a boy from England and a boy from Australia are sitting around a restaurant table in Poland. How much will they tip?

The boy from England: “Ok, we’ve got enough pooled to cover the bill. How much should we tip? I think it’s customarily 10% in Poland, right?”

The girl from France: “No way, I’m not leaving 10%, the service was terrible.”

The girl from America: “Whoa, I was planning to leave 20%!”

Photo by Cathleen Shattuck

Our monthly collaborative post is back, and this time we’re talking about tipping etiquette. Here’s what PocketCultures contributors around the world said about when to tip in their countries.

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