Yılbaşı: New Year’s Eve in Türkiye, and its tree

A New Year tree

For most people in Türkiye, the big winter celebration is New Year’s Eve, a secular holiday that families of every background enjoy. The decorated tree is called a yılbaşı ağacı, a New Year tree, and it goes up in homes, offices, cafés and shopping centres through December. Gifts are exchanged on New Year’s Eve, and Noel Baba, the Turkish Father Christmas, is part of the New Year story.

Türkiye’s Christian communities celebrate Christmas in their churches, but for most families the lights, the tree and the presents are all about the night of December 31.

How the tree became a New Year tree

From 1926 Türkiye used the international calendar, and January 1 became the official start of the year. Over the following decades, New Year’s Eve parties spread from the big cities, and the decorated tree, the lights and Noel Baba came along as symbols of the new year rather than of a religious holiday. For many families today, decorating the tree together in December is simply part of saying goodbye to the old year.

Saint Nicholas was from here

The saint behind Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, was a 4th-century bishop of Myra, today the town of Demre on Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast in Antalya. The Church of Saint Nicholas there is now a museum, and visitors come from all over the world to see it.

How the night goes

1. A long dinner

   Families and friends gather around a table full of meze, roast dishes (roast turkey, “hindi”, has become popular for the night), and plenty of dessert and nuts.

2. Tombala

   The classic New Year game: numbered pieces are drawn from a bag and everyone covers the numbers on their card. The first full row wins, and the shouting is half the fun.

3. The lottery draw

   The national lottery’s New Year draw is one of the biggest of the year, and many families buy a ticket and follow the results.

4. TV specials and the countdown

   Shows, concerts and the countdown on TV, or fireworks over the Bosphorus for those who head out in Istanbul.

5. Midnight

   Hugs, “Mutlu yıllar!” (Happy New Year) and gifts. Then most people stay up long after.

The New Year table

Little customs for luck

• Pomegranates: a symbol of plenty, they appear in decorations and gifts, and some families break one at the door for a fruitful year.
• Red underwear: wearing something red on the night is said to bring luck in the new year, and red underwear sells out in December.
• Gold-coloured decorations: for a year with money in it.

Gifts and the office draw

Like Secret Santa elsewhere, offices, classes and friend groups hold a yılbaşı çekilişi, a New Year name draw, in December. Everyone buys one gift for the person they drew, and the presents are opened at a party before the holiday. Here are our tips for running a gift draw.

Where to see the lights

In Istanbul, İstiklal Avenue, Nişantaşı and Bağdat Avenue on the Asian side are decorated for weeks, and shopping centres put up huge trees. Ankara, İzmir and Antalya light up their main streets too. On the night itself, crowds gather along the Bosphorus for the countdown and the fireworks.

Useful phrases

New Year messages

The days before December 31 are full of messages: “Mutlu yıllar”, “İyi yıllar”, long notes in group chats and stories. If you want ideas in Turkish, see our New Year messages in Turkish. And since the Turkish tree is a New Year tree, a tree of messages fits right in: friends hang gifts with their wishes on it during December.