For those my age or close to it, there were certain things that would immediately come to mind when Ramadan was mentioned, symbolizing the "Sultan of Eleven Months": For instance, the iftar cannon; the Ramadan drummer waking people up for sahur by reciting maniler (folk poems); the iftar table, the sahur table, minarets with oil lamps lit on their balconies, mahyas (light displays between minarets); mukabeles (Quran recitations) read in mosques or homes before noon and after the late afternoon prayer; tarawih prayers performed in congregation in sets of two or four rakats; the "tooth rent" (diş kirası) given to guests after iftar dinners; the Night of Power (Kadir Gecesi), the eve of the holiday, and finally the Eid... On the morning of the Eid, following the Eid prayer, after cemetery visits, people would celebrate by kissing the hands of their elders, a festive meal would be eaten together in peace by all members of the household, and then neighbors, friends, and relatives would be visited.

After we pass 50, does the longing for the past, typically expressed as "Where are those old days! Where are those old Ramadans!", stem from dissatisfaction with the days we live in, or from an inability to look to the future with confidence? Perhaps both... Were the Ramadans of our childhood or youth really more beautiful or more meaningful than today's? Undoubtedly, they were simpler and more meaningful than today!.. In the past, the month of Ramadan had a spirit, or rather a spirituality, and the majority of the residents of that town felt this in every aspect... The old Ramadans were, of course, fully integrated into life, especially in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and in the other provinces of the state.

Ramazan Geldi Hoş Geldi... (Ramadan Has Come, Welcome...) is a small-volume work published in 1949 by Yeni Şark Library, in which Ahmed Esad Ben’im, a follower of the Kadem-i Şerif Dervish Lodge (Halil Hâmid Pasha) in old Istanbul, recounts his childhood memories of Istanbul Ramadans. Ahmed Esad Ben’im, who spent his childhood in a neighborhood near Lâleli, between Aksaray and Beyazıt, describes an Istanbul Ramadan in 1917 in his work, as far as we can understand. (Abdullah Uçman)