I posted my greeting for the new year a few weeks ago in lieu of a more holiday-specific card, but I now come to find that they don’t celebrate New Year’s here according to the Gregorian calendar as all other Gulf countries do; in fact such celebrations are prohibited by the religious police. There are numerous news reports online explaining the prohibition; one is at http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/12/saudi-mutawa-warn-against-new-year-revelry-20131229165838902684.html The new year is welcomed here according to the Muslim lunar calendar in the month of Muharram, which this year was on Nov. 5.

Actually, my newspaper in Istanbul doesn’t give today off as a holiday, either, so for me it’s just business as usual. In any case, I wish all the best in 2014 to my Pbase friends!