Doğanköy Hawthorn Festival
Day 1
…
By Margaret Sheard
There are many Festivals held in North Cyprus throughout the year but 
unfortunately we are not always aware of these until after the event. So it was by luck that, going through Doğanköy on our way to the Lambousa Market on Saturday 2nd November, we happened upon a large area of land which had been prepared and there were many stalls and a stage erected. Of course we had to stop and see what it was all about and we located some people we knew who told us it was the Hawthorn Festival and would be running for 2 days – Saturday and Sunday.
We had a few words with the Girne Mayor, Sumer Aygin and the Doğanköy Muhtar during which we asked them to please let us have some information of events in advance and we will be pleased to promote them for the English speak
ing community.
We had a quick look around the stalls which had already been set up with jewellery, pictures, ceramics, basketware and many more items as well as stalls selling local produce and food to eat while you were there. We met Paula and Incilay who were “manning” the Pumas Rugby stall, and who also work hard to raise funds for the upkeep of Doğanköy Church.
We decided to leave then and promised to call in again on our way back.
What a change there was on our return, many cars lining the approach road, the car park was full as well so it was a good sign that people had heard about the Festival and had come to enjoy the day and there was a 
huge number of people visiting the stalls and sitting in front of the stage to see the entertainment. By this time all of the stalls were set up with even more items to tempt people and on the stage was a group of children performing traditional Turkish folk dances.
It seems we were just in time, because following the folk dancing came the Kibris Liners
who often perform at Festivals to show their prowess at line dancing. They came onto the stage and performed 4 line dances to different types of music which had the audience clapping in time to the music and thoroughly enjoying the dancing.
This was followed by another group of older children with some more traditional folk dancing. Looking around at the audience when the children are dancing you can see the delight on the faces of their families.
We wandered around the stalls again and found Hasan Eminağa and Tomrul Tomgüsehan from Dizayn74 Pottery 
who had a stall with some of their products and a potter’s wheel where they had been doing some demonstrations of pottery making. I visited their premises in Karaoğlanoğlu a year or so ago and wrote an article about Hasan and Tomrul and although I was invited to have a go at the potter’s wheel at that time, I never did take up the offer. It was nice to meet up with them again though. To view my previous article about Dizayn74 Pottery click here.
Unfortunately, we had to take our leave, there were still more people arriving so it looks as if the Festival was going to be a huge success and of course it was to continue on Sunday as well, with the stalls and even more entertainment.
To see more pictures of the first day of the Festival see the slideshow below.
