Akşehir Nasreddin Hodja Humor Festival

The International Akşehir Nasreddin Hodja Festival keeps alive the memory and universal humour of Nasreddin Hodja (c. 1208–1284), the legendary folk sage, judge, teacher and satirist buried in Akşehir. Held every July since 1959, it is one of Türkiye’s oldest continuously running cultural festivals and has grown into the world’s premier gathering of folk humour: ceremonial rites at the Hodja’s tomb, the famous “churning the lake” ritual, an international cartoon contest, folk-dance troupes from several countries, concerts and street comedy — all staged across Akşehir’s Ottoman-era mansions, its humour-themed open-air stage (“Mizah Yolu”) and the central squares.

The festival's mission is to keep “the spirit of Nasreddin Hoca alive through every field of art and culture” while showcasing Akşehir as the world capital of laughter.

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• The Dellal Drums Opening: In the days before the festival opens, town criers called dellal (an Ottoman-era trade that survives here as living heritage) walk Akşehir's historic streets beating large drums and announcing the festival's start in the Hodja's name — a sound that once announced weddings and market days.
• The Protocol Visit to the Tomb: Each edition opens with the official festival Hodja (by an actor in period costume) leading dignitaries and crowds to the Hodja's tomb in the town cemetery, where the festival is symbolically "called to order" before the city celebrations begin.
• The "Ya Tutarsa" Lake-Churning Ceremony: The festival's comic centerpiece. The Hodja walks to Akşehir Stream (the small river of the plain, the stand-in for the lake of the famous joke) carrying a wooden butter churn, and declares "Ya tutarsa!" — Turkish for "What if it works!" — before starting to churn water into, supposedly, butter.
• The International Parade with the Backwards Donkey: A town-wide parade in which the festival Hodja rides his grey donkey backwards at the head of the procession, waving and handing sweets to children, while folk-dance troupes in national costume from Türkiye and guest countries march and dance their way down the Humour Road to the historic church square.
• The Golden Donkey Awards: On the opening evening, the municipality presents the Altın Eşek — "Golden Donkey," a deliberately tongue-in-cheek trophy fitting the town's humour identity — to a humorist or cultural figure of the year.
• The International Cartoon Contest Exhibition: Each summer the town receives thousands of cartoons on a Nasreddin Hodja theme from around the world and exhibits the winning works in Akşehir.
• Evening Concerts at the Open-Air Theatre: Every festival night ends with live music at Akşehir's open-air theatre with a free opening concert by a city orchestra. Concert tickets cost roughly 150–400 Turkish lira (about 3–8 US dollars).
• Children's Programs and the Humour Park Workshops: Afternoons belong to families: bubble and science shows, puppetry and mini-disco at Cumhuriyet Square, plus art workshops at the Gulmece Parkı — the Humour Park, where bronze sculptures stage the Hodja's most famous jokes as photo backdrops.