Ramadan

Ramadan

Islamic year 1431

Sunset Wednesday August 11, 2010- Sunset Thursday September 9, 2010

I touched on Ramadan briefly last year as I caught the tail end of it. This year I was able to fully immerse myself in the holy month, fasting from food and water sunup to sundown, breaking fast with families in the neighborhood and thinking about how blessed I am to have all that I do in my life.

Ramadan is the 9^th month in the Islamic calendar and is a Holy month in which Muslims fast, pray and read the Qur’an, give charity, break fast, refrain from sexual activity during the daylight hours and maintain a state of purity throughout the month. For more information check out good ol’ Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan.

Every morning for 30 days I woke up at 3am. I would eat the pre-dawn meal of suhoor. I started out eating lentils and rice with a piece of fruit and maybe some nuts. I quickly realized I wouldn’t be able to keep that up the whole month despite the fact that it kept me full most of the day. I would also drink as much water as possible, usually aiming for 2-3 liters. I’d go back to bed around 4-4:30 depending on the time of the call to prayer, the Ahdan.

During the day Muslims generally stick to their same work schedules and live a normal life. For most of Ramadan I spent the time inside my house, taking it easy, trying to stay cool, napping, and generally distracting myself from the idea of food.

Not eating wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I did feel hungry but not TOO hungry and it was certainly doable. I didn’t even get mean after not eating for a whole day alhamdulilah! The hard part was that I couldn’t go about my normal routine: waking up, making coffee and eggs, working on my computer while drinking coffee, filling hours of boredom with snacks…who am I kidding, it was just hard not being able to have coffee whenever I wanted!

Why would I fast if I’m not Muslim and I’m not becoming Muslim? One of my dear friends was accused by an American friend of just satisfying her desire for a little religious tourism, perhaps to make herself feel open-minded and experienced? I would say that this is rather insulting and quite far from the reality. There are several reasons I chose to fast. In the beginning it was in solidarity with my community, to know what they experience throughout the month and to feel comfortable breaking fast with families in my neighborhood. Something is not quite right about stuffing one’s face all day and then going to the neighbors’ house who have not eaten from 4 in the morning to about 7:15 at night where I live and then ceremoniously breaking the fast with them. The whole experience of breaking fast is much more fulfilling when you haven’t eaten all day and the sense of community and support that is created as you gather with friends, all of whom have been hungry all day is quite enriching.

As the month went on I wouldn’t say it necessarily got harder or easier. Some days were just hard and others were easier. It is amazing though to feel your minds abilities decrease rapidly and your energy level plummet more and more as the month goes on and the days build up. As I learned about why Muslims fast my reasons for fasting transformed to be more inline with theirs. As I felt the sensation of hunger day after day I started to think about what people who don’t ever have food feel like. Do you ever get used to this sensation? I can’t imagine. While I was never starving by any means, while I got to break fast at the end of everyday in good company, my privilege of having access to food and clean water day after day became very apparent to me…even if only from sundown to sunup, I could take something away from these feelings of hunger throughout the day. Muslims fast for many reasons one of which, is to feel empathy for those less fortunate than them. For me this became one of the meanings of Ramadan and what I would consider an enriching experience.

A second meaning of Ramadan for me was community. Both my host family and Mudir (boss) were out of town for the month of Ramadan. I didn’t really have anywhere to go but I couldn’t very well break fast by myself everyday. My neighbors however took me in completely. The invited me over every evening to break fast with them. I was also able to go to my host uncle and aunts house and visit my host family in Casablanca to share the experience of fasting and breaking fast with them. When we broke fast every night we’d start with a small glass of milk. As much as you’d like to chug water after not drinking the entire day, that is NOT the way its done. After a small glass of milk we would eat olives and dates. I love dates and would have to refrain from overindulging in the soft, sweet goodness that they are. We’d follow that in no specific order by tea, fat bread (a kind of Moroccan fried pizza,) msmn (fried bread,) hard-boiled eggs, shbekia (fried dough, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds,) and we’d finish everything with Harira (a tomato based soup with chick peas, cilantro, lentils, a noodle or two and perhaps some chicken liver.) After we broke fast we would go sit out side and enjoy the warm evenings. I played hide and seek, jumped rope and played Frisbee with the kids, which was a lot of fun.

30 days of not drinking water and not eating food during the day sounds really intimidating but I think it has been one of my most beneficial experiences in Morocco to date. I do have to note that there is no way I could have made it through the whole month without my dear Marjorie. We would get up together at 3am (her in Tiznit and me in Rose Valley,) skype together while we ate suhoor and give each other words of encouragement to get through the day. With out knowing that part of my fasting was in solidarity with her and that I couldn’t let her down I could make sure not to let myself down either.

This picture is of me, another PCV and a group of Moroccan youth breaking fast at a youth conference, at which I spent a week during Ramadan. The theme was "from an idea to a project)