Preparations for Goose Feast Started

Preparations continue at full speed for the traditional Goose Festival, which will be held for the second time this year with the cooperation of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Kocaeli City Council and the residents of the neighborhood, which dates back 200 years. For the event to be held in Eseler Village on Friday, January 27, the women in the village came together to open dried phyllo dough. Goose Festival, which will be organized with the aim of promoting the regional-cultural values ​​of Kocaeli, bringing the gastronomic values ​​to light and transferring them to future generations, will be celebrated with different events, treats and local folk songs in the village square of Eseler.

PREPARATIONS COMPLETE IN IZMIT ESELER

The excitement of Goose Feast is experienced in the Eseler District of Kocaeli's Izmit district. The preparations for the feast, which started months ago with the fattening of the geese, continue with the co-working of dry dough by the women after the weather gets cold. The dough sheets, which will be used as tirit on the day of the event, were carefully prepared and preserved by the women in the village.

STARTED MONTHS AGO

Goose Feast is celebrated every year in the second half of January, on the date determined by the village elders. The preparations for the feast begin with the preparation of dry dough and the fattening of the geese. The natural skewers to be used during the cooking of the geese are prepared by cutting from the dogwood tree. Two days before the feast, the feathers and insides of the geese that are slaughtered collectively are cleaned, left to rest for one night, and the frozen fat is removed. Goose meat is as important as its fat because it meets the annual need. The geese, which are soaked in water for a day, are taken out of the water on the morning of the feast and strung on skewers, some water is poured into the goose pans and driven into the oven.

ESELER, SOLAKLAR AND DURHASAN

It is known that the Goose Festival, which has been celebrated for centuries in the villages of Eseler, Solaklar and Durhasan in the Izmit district of Kocaeli, was also celebrated in the villages of Hasanoğlu and Sofuoğlu in the past.

LOCAL PRODUCTS WILL BE EXHIBITED

During the Goose Festival, which will take place in the village square of Eseler, local and cultural values ​​of Kocaeli will be exhibited. In addition, the local sales area, where the villagers can sell the local products they have produced, will also be located in the event area.

WHAT IS GAZ DAY?

The main purpose of the holiday, which is celebrated in the middle of January only in the villages of Eseler, Solaklar, Durhasan and Hasanoğlu in the Izmit district in Kocaeli, is unity, togetherness and sharing. The people of the region, who took care to keep the tradition alive even during the war years, have ensured that this tradition has survived for 200 years.