World Rakı Festival facts for kids

The World Rakı Festival (Turkish: Dünya Rakı Festivali) is a fun street festival held overnight in Adana, Turkey. It grew out of a long tradition of entertainment in the Kazancılar Bazaar. For over a hundred years, people have gathered there to enjoy delicious kebab, liver dishes, and a traditional local beverage, all while listening to street music and watching dances.

This lively festival takes place every year on the second Saturday night of December. Many streets around the Büyüksaat clock tower are filled with dinner tables. Besides the local kebab restaurants, street vendors also set up stalls to serve tasty kebab and liver. Musicians playing drums and zurna walk around, entertaining everyone. The night is full of music, dancing, eating, and drinking, often lasting until the sun comes up on Sunday morning.

Festival in 2015

In 2015, some media groups raised concerns about the festival. The Governor of Adana stated that he would not allow the festival if the traditional beverage was consumed openly in the streets. To make sure the festival could still happen, the organizers changed its official name to the Adana Kebap and Şalgam Festival. However, many people still called it the Rakı Festival, and it continued just like in previous years.

Dining during the festival

History of the Festival

The Kazancılar area has been a center for kebab and liver dining in Adana for over a hundred years. In the past, people who visited the live bird market early on Sundays would often have liver kebab for breakfast there. This tradition, combined with the late-night entertainment at local restaurants, made Kazancılar a popular spot. The kebab restaurants in Kazancılar serve food all day and stay open late into the night for fun and food.

A special tradition of having liver breakfast around 5 AM on Sunday, lasting until noon, became popular after Saturday night's fun. In 2010, a group of people who often visited Kazancılar decided to create the World Rakı Day. They wanted to celebrate the popular local beverage that goes well with kebab and şalgam (a local turnip juice).

The first World Rakı Day was celebrated on December 10, 2011. Over the years, this celebration became very popular, attracting not only people from Adana but also kebab and traditional beverage lovers from the wider Çukurova region and all over Turkey. By 2014, more than 20,000 people visited the festival, and it was widely covered by national news.

The 2015 festival saw a record number of visitors, even though some groups had asked for it to be banned. During the evening, a small group tried to disrupt the festival. They were quickly stopped by the police, and no one was hurt. The fun and entertainment continued until early morning.