Ramadan Fun

This week marked the official start of Ramadan, the Muslim holiday commemorating the 9th month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims believe the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the prophet Muhammad. As one of the seven pillars of Islam, fasting during Ramadan is hugely important here in Morocco as in other Muslim countries. It means abstaining from eating, drinking, and sexual activity.
I returned to my site from PPST training on Sunday, and until its start two days ago I tried to gain a sense from my friends here as to what I should expect. I asked how long the fasting was. What do people eat when they break fast? Do people work during the day. How is the time of the Call to Prayer determined? As in so many things though, nothing really prepared me for the actuality of Ramadan. Here’s how it works as I’ve so far experienced it.
By Wednesday, most people were pretty sure that Thursday would be the start, but officially it depends on the moon (it has to be crescent, usually the day after the new moon) and therefore, until it is determined to be the correct moon, Ramadan doesn’t start. The only answer I got when I asked when it started was “probably Thursday, maybe Friday.” Fasting, and thus Ramadan itself, did start at the 3:30 AM morning call to prayer (called fajr) on Thursday. I actually slept through it, and thus didn’t get a chance to gorge myself before the day began and I couldn’t eat or drink. I am fasting with everyone else, so missing my chance was a big mistake for the first day and by 3 in the afternoon with the sun scorching hot, I very much regretted not having set my alarm.
Now I don’t really have to worry about missing “dinner” because there is a Ramadan schedule and, as it seems to be the easiest way to do things, I’ve adopted it. The schedule is pretty similar to the one I was on when I worked night shift. I get up around 11 AM. At this point it’s pretty hot outside, and as I don’t have a lot of work to do (at least not while everyone is fasting), I stay inside to conserve my water. It’s pretty nice. I get a lot of reading and writing done. In the afternoon I take a nap and wander outside for a little, never straying too far from home, and always trying to dart from one cool shadow to another. Some people are out doing the same thing or working and we greet each other, but the conversations are brief in order to conserve what little energy and water we have. We will have time later. At about 5 PM I start to catch the scents of the foods the women are preparing for the nights “breakfast.” These smells seem to awaken the town, and by 6 people are out moving around, talking, buying last minute food, and getting to wherever they are going to break the fast that night. At about 7, the tables are set with food. Almost everyone has made it to their destinations and is eagerly awaiting the evening call to prayer to sound so they can start eating and drinking.
So far I have only broken fast at my host family’s house. I arrive early and wait outside with my “parents” and “siblings” to catch the first “Allahu Akbar.” They live a little ways out of town and on more then one occasion we have gotten excited over the faint start of someone’s car stereo blaring: false alarm. When we do sit down to eat, the table is already full of different things. A hotdog, hardboiled egg salad with ketchup. Bell peppers “tagined” in olive oil. Olives. Dates with M&Ms. Some pastry type things. A very dense cornbreadish thing called Hrsha (one of my favorites by far). Sometimes a small bit of chicken. Bread and sweet tea of course. And as a main dish, a Moroccan soup called harira which is mmm mmm good.
There’s no real formality to it. As soon as the call to prayer is heard, everyone mumbles a quick “bismilla” (their version of grace) and digs in. The eating is over with in a matter of minutes it seems. And then, at least with my family, we sit around for a while talking and picking at nearby leftovers whenever hunger strikes again. It’s a bit like Thanksgiving.
After dinner, the town really comes alive. People awake from their foodless, drinkless stupor and move outside, where the men go to the cafes, and couples walk around town together, taking advantage of the new energy and cool evening air. Since I am a man and I don’t have a nice young lady to walk around town with, I go to the café where I sit with the men of the village and watch TV or talk (mostly I listen because I don’t understand much of what they are saying and wouldn’t know how to say what I wanted to say even if I had something to say). When I take my leave a little after midnight, there are still lots of people out. I go home, eat another snack, and sit out on my roof under the stars listening to the noise in town grow thinner as people make their way back to their homes. At around 2:30 AM I cook up “dinner” and down as much water as I can, aware that my sleep will no doubt be interrupted numerous times because of it. I go to bed around 3.
I’ve had a lot of people ask me why I’m fasting and there is really only one good reason. I want to integrate into my community as quickly as possible, and there are not many better ways of doing so that I can think of than going through a difficult experience with those people. Already I feel like I’ve gained a certain measure of respect. Almost everyone I talk to asks whether I am fasting or not. When I tell them that I am, I get a lot of excited expressions and eager questions about how it’s going. I’m not really sure though, the excitement might actually be because they think I’ve converted. If that’s the case, I will let them believe what they will.
Again, we are only in the 3rd day of the month long “celebration”, but this has been how it has been the last few nights. It’s not too hard for me as I don’t have lots of physical work to do and also I live in a relatively cool place by Moroccan standards. I like the schedule and the relaxed feeling that comes with it (of course if I have to do any traveling, I will have to throw the relaxed feeling out the window), but I will be glad when the final breakfast happens and I can hopefully start working with people on things they want to accomplish here.