End of Ramadan

What happens (as far as we know)...

In the morning you wake up (presumably after the best night’s sleep you’ve had all month because you didn’t need to wake up at 4:00 am to eat your only meal for the day), have a small meal, put on your best clothes and go to the mosque, where you make a big donation of food for the poor, and recite a certain prayer. At least that’s what I read--haven’t talked to anyone about this aspect of the holiday. We do know that after that part, it is important to spend time with your family, and that everything shuts down for two days. We see many many deliveries of flowers and candy being made, mostly by motorbike (equipped with enclosed shelf units), but also by car and by foot. We give the concierge a big tip (~ $30), and enjoy the relative quiet of the day. An old man on the street wishes us Merry Christmas. Our health club sports a big bouquet of flowers and we are handed a card bearing “Happy Fotor” (end of Ramadan, spelled in interesting manner). We hear the occasional fireworks--fine, until there comes an M-80 or something, which is just too similar to the RPGs of last May for comfort.

I was surprised to hear that Rosh Hashanah is the very same day. It just amazes me that people’s spiritual beliefs, so similar in so many ways, are the basis for so much horrendous violence.

So until next year, when Ramadan will come about 10 days earlier.