- Mesir Macunu Festival
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Mesir Macunu Festival
The Mesir Macunu festival, which is held in the Turkish city of Manisa, is a celebration to commemorate the recovery of Hafsa Sultan, the mother of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who was cured of the disease by inventing a special paste consisting of a unique combination of herbs and spices. The Sultan then, after the Sultana's recovery, ordered that the paste to be disseminated to the public.
Therefore, from March 21 to 24 each year, the paste is prepared by a chef and apprentices from 41 fresh spices and herbs according to traditional practices. A team of 14 women then wrap the paste in small pieces of paper, and after that 28 imams and apprentices bless it before scattering the paste from the top of the minaret and domes of the Sultan Mosque on thousands of people who come from different parts of Turkey to compete to pick up the pieces as they fall.
Many believe that by doing so, their desires to marry, work and have children will be fulfilled within a year. The festival is interspersed with a 45-piece orchestra dressed in traditional clothes and performing historical Ottoman music while preparing the dough and throughout the festival days.
Mesir Macunu Festival was inscribed in 2012 on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Turkey.
by Arieswings, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mesir Macunu Festival
Date of Inscription
2012
- See also in Turkey
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