Ramadan

Tomorrow Ramadan starts. And with that the time of one month fasting.

For those who have had little experience with muslims: Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. It is during this month that Muslims observe the Fast of Ramadan. Lasting for the entire month, Muslims fast during the daylight hours and in the evening eat small meals and visit with friends and family. It is a time of worship and contemplation. A time to strengthen family and community ties.

I wonder how this month will look like for me. There is only one person in the office out of 35 who will not be fasting, cos he is Hindu. I cannot have meal in front of other people (fasting by the way means, that you cannot even drink water during the daytime). Many food stores will be closed and the windows of the restaurants covered. People will be having their first meal of the day (called Ifter) after sunset at around 6 pm, the second time for eating will be at 10-11 pm and final one at 3 am. Otherwise more or less normal rhytm of life is continued. There is noone cooking for me at home and I do tend to sleep at night, so such a small thing as eating is becoming an interesting question for me. Well, I have collected several invitations for Ifter already from my collegues, so I'm really looking forward to the experience of Ramadan.

Ramadan ends with a great festival called Eid-ul-Fitr (the Feast of Fast Breaking). Gifts are exchanged. Friends and family gather to pray in congregation and for large meals. I have spent two last days in the office trying to figure out when exactly Eid-ul-Fitr happens and actually nobody knows. Cos it depends on when the moon is seen. It will probably be Nov 3-5, but is sure only when the public announcement is done in TV or radio. The same with Ramadan - nobody knew last week, whether it starts on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, cos it also depends on when the moon is seen... Now appearantly it is sure, that the fasting starts from tomorrow. Coming from a culture where being exact is a norm, this all is a bit confusing. At the same time, it amuzes a lot and I can add another item to my things-can-be-different-list.