It is hamsi season. Sinop, Turkey, on the Black Sea is a big hamsi area. Sinop (“Turkey’s Happiest City”) came to Beşiktaş, İstanbul for the Sinop Hamsi Festivalı today. There was live music. Five tons of hamsi was grilled and given away. There was a raw hamsi eating contest (the winner gets a holiday in Sinop). And it all happened mostly in the rain. Meanwhile, in Sinop, the festival continues for four days.

Is this event government-sponsored fish worship?