This Time of Year

Ramadan began last week. This is what I think I know about Ramadan and anything I write here is a huge simplification and may in fact be bad intel.  With that said, this is the Muslim fasting month- yes, I said month. Generally, everyone rises between 3 and 4 am and has a large breakfast followed by prayers.  From sunrise until sunset (here about 5:50 pm), they must not eat or drink- not even water. The usual prayer times are extended somewhat throughout the day. At 5:50 pm approximately, they break the fast with lots of sugar. There are traditional sweets, but one of the most common uses fruit, drenched in a sugary fruit syrup and sweetened condensed milk. There is a whole list of things to break fast. And of course, water may then be taken. There are prayers. From 7-8 or 8:30 there are more prayers (attendance at these isn't mandatory) and then the evening meal is eaten. Many will shift their work schedules to start earlier in the morning so they can leave earlier to get home to break the fast with family. During Ramadan one should develop compassion for the poor and needy who feel hungry every day. This is a spiritually and physically cleansing experience. Just as in other world religions, fasting is seen as an opportunity to separate yourself from the things of this world and to concentrate on your relationship with God. Fasting allows you to become closer to God by contemplating his will in your life and builds self-discipline and to become a better person.

One of the things B has to watch at the office is that people use different approaches to resolving conflict as one should not anger people who are fasting as it annuls the purification process for that day. This also includes not eating or drinking in front of people etc.

Ramadan will end with Idul Fitri. It begins with a mass prayer gatherings in fields. It is common to see hundreds of people all wearing white.This is the time when there is a mass exit from town. Millions leave and return to their villages to spend time with family (The newspaper predicts 20,000,000 people will travel during that period). Many people are given time off in which to do this.  While with family and friends you ask for forgiveness for anything you've done during the year.The purchase or creation of new clothes is a frequent activity during the month of Ramadan leading up to Idul Fitri. Gift giving during Idul Fitri is a major thing as well. There are gift baskets/boxes to be purchased everywhere!  And the cookies and other sweets! All sorts of special cookie tins, boxes, baskets in special displays all over every grocery. Stacks of cartons of fruit flavored syrups abound. I am really tempted to try either the markisa (passionfruit) or sirsak syrup. So far we are just looking in wonder!

 

It is a federal regulation that you pay your household staff an extra month's wages at this time of year so they have extra money to buy these new clothes as well as gifts for family, friends at Idul Fitri. Everyone that returns to the village is expected to bring gifts to everyone. Gifts of course may include simple items like basic foods: rice, oil, coffee, etc. There is also an obligatory poor tax (which is supposed to be paid to your mosque --I think-- for the poor). There are apparently a lot of fireworks displays during Idul Fitri. We shall see as we will be here.

There are a couple of side effects especially regarding traffic. Traffic is much worse than usual late in the afternoon as workers rush home early to break fast with family during Ramadan.  However, around Idul Fitri, so many people leave town, the traffic is briefly better. Here's the "macet" around 4-5 pm weekdays during Ramadan. It can come to a standstill.

Back to the fasting. With so many people fasting what about restaurants?  Some will not be open during the day, but open after sunset. If restaurants are open, they may cover the windows or in the case of our nearby grocery, pull a door mostly shut. This is a food court type place inside the grocery. Normally, tables spill out halfway to the registers, but for Ramadan, they've removed a lot of tables and closed the normally very large open area with the temporary beige "wall" leaving only a few tables behind the wall.

Restaurants in the ex-pat type malls are usually open, especially for lunch. During dinner, apparently people will arrive way before sunset and select a table and wait so they are there and ready to eat when it comes time to break fast. This of course would mean no one else could sit there and eat. Hmmm. We may eat out less during Ramadan. We will have to see how it goes.