Saturday, August 22, 2020

In Istanbul, Turkey - Spirit of the Wind

On my first night in Istanbul in August a huge wind was coming in from the north west. My bed was right by the big double windows. Of course I was exhausted from the excitement, long flight and time change. I lay there all night facing the widow with the big wind hitting me in the face and pouring over me. Later I found out that in Turkey the wind is a magical force - maybe a god - in the ancient regional cosmology. Rusgar is the name of the wind, ruya means dream and ruhum means spirit in Turkish. I was blessed by the mighty wind on my first night there in Turkey. If you're on a mini bus the covered women don't want a window open with the breeze blowing on them for this reason. In the old days, if a girl got pregnant they said - the wind did it! The Magical Turkish Wind -