Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children February 2016

Istanbul is the only city in the world that straddles two continents – Europe and Asia. More than 14 million people call this vibrant city home. Here are five fun facts to get you started on your journey to this unique city. 1. Istanbul is just the latest in a line of names that this city has had. Until 1922, it was known as Constantinople. After World War I, it became part of the newly created Republic of Turkey. 2. Medusa can be found under the city of Istanbul! Well, SCULPTURES of Medusa can be found there – as part of the elaborate Basilica Cisterna. A water storage facility built at the order of Emperor Justinian I, the location is now one of the city’s top tourist attractions. 3. Rub-a-dub-dub!…

“Cats here, cats there, cats and kittens everywhere!” This line from a famous children’s book describes the streets of Istanbul perfectly. The city is brimming with stray cats, and dogs, too. The dogs are less popular, as they are considered unclean and shunned by some in the Islamic world. But cats have a better reputation; as a result the people of Istanbul take care of the stray cats rather than try to rid the city of them. Legend has it that Muhammad (the founder of Islam) had a favorite cat named Muezza that saved him from being bitten by a deadly snake. Sometime later, Muhammad was called to prayer, but Muezza had fallen asleep on the sleeve of his robe. Rather than disturb the cat, Muhammad cut off his sleeve.…

For thousands of years, Istanbul was one of the most coveted cities in the entire world. Powerful empires fought for control of it, and it was invaded more than 60 times. It was a city that everyone wanted, and it was all because of its location. Istanbul is the only city in the world that sits on two continents. The eastern half of the city is located in Asia, and the western half is in Europe. It is ideally situated for trade between the two continents, and it has easy access to the sea. The Black Sea borders the city to the north, and the Sea of Marmara (the northeast extension of the Mediterranean Sea) borders it to the south. The Bosporus Strait (sometimes spelled Bosphorus), a very narrow waterway,…

The Basilica Cisterna, the largest and most famous survivor of an ancient water storage system, lies underground near Hagia Sophia in the historic Sultanahmet area of Istanbul. Constantinople, as Istanbul was then known, had no natural fresh water sources. The city had earlier depended on rainwater collection and aqueducts to deliver water from a distance. Now far greater quantities were required to meet the Emperor Justinian I’s ambitious plans for expansion and he ordered the construction of a series of underground cisterns for storing water. The Basilica Cisterna was greatly enlarged from an existing cistern under the Stoa Basilica on a great square of Istanbul’s First Hill. Its main purpose was to provide water for the Great Palace and its surrounding buildings. Upon completion in 532, the Basilica Cistern measured…

There are many kinds of puppets and puppet shows, from marionettes and hand puppets to large Muppet-like puppets that may even have worn costumes. Puppets are usually colorful and appealing, meant to be seen. But what about puppets that aren’t seen, and entertain audiences only with their shadows? Shadow puppets are a tradition in Turkey as well as other parts of the world, and they are much more intricate than those hand shadows you might make on the wall of your room with a flashlight, although the idea is the same! Shadow puppets are flat figures cut from camel or donkey leather. They are covered with oil to make them partly transparent, then painted, with small perforations made in the figures to let light shine through. Perforations are also made…

Disappearance: Mystery #1 Agatha Christie left her suburban London home and vanished on the night of December 3, 1926. The next morning, her car was found — but not Christie. Great Britain launched its largest missing persons search in history. For 11 days, rumors swirled around the author’s bizarre disappearance, even making the front page of The New York Times. Eleven days later, she was discovered alone, at a spa hotel many miles away from her home — with no recollection of how she got there — or who she was. Christie, her family, and others said it was amnesia born of emotional distress, while others such as Christie expert Jared Cade (author of the biography, Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days), says that “she deliberately staged her disappearance…