I have my very first Ramadan almost under my belt and I think that’s sufficient enough time to write about my observations, adventures (or lack thereof), and miscellaneous musings. So here are the very basics of Ramadan and how I thought it would pertain to me and my site…
Ramadan! Muslim holiday characterized by a month of fasting! Goes by the Islamic calendar and this year it was August 13thish to September 10thish (Moon decides when it starts and stops). Next year it will be earlier! HOLY COW, even hotter then. Fasting starts from where there is only a line of light on the horizon until sunset. Around 4 in the morning to 7:30ish at night. No water! No food! Nothing!
Who fasts? Not kids, until they become teenagers. Pregnant women, women who are nursing, sick people, very old people are not required to fast by the Koran. The Koran says these individuals (minus the old dudes, pretty sure I’m right on this) will make up for it later in the year, but not just fast for one month… 2 or 3 months are required? Or by giving alms and it’s a lot. I think you have to feed 30 people for every DAY you miss fasting. I dunno there are so many ways to get around actually fasting and making it up later.
But! Just because the Koran says these people are exempt doesn’t mean that they actually forego fasting. Unfortunately there are a lot of older individuals who still fast and even quite a few nursing women (yet to see a pregnant woman who is fasting, but I’ve heard it happens). Ramadan during a hot month such as this year’s can be dangerous for these individuals. This is a time when some older folk tend to kick the bucket, but the nice thing is the Koran says if you die during Ramadan it is a straight ticket to heaven. So hey! Not such a bad time to go. All that aside, Ramadan is a month of denying the body and being closer to God.
So those are the very very short basics. How did I think this would affect me exactly or what was I expecting to happen in my site? Well first off through different training sessions and talks with other volunteers, I sort of had a lot of expectations for Ramadan. Most of them weren’t great either, but just like everything in Peace Corps everyone’s experience is so different and my Ramadan so far hasn’t been quite what I expected. Since no one eats during the day, cafes are closed and I kept hearing that basically everything just comes to a standstill during Ramadan. Especially since this one was going to be hard, because of the weather, I expected everyone to be sleeping most of the time. I didn’t figure I’d see many people out or see many people traveling. I thought I’d be walking around a ghost town with little tumble weeds blowing in the wind. Well that definitely wasn’t the case in my site. Almost all the stores where open for a good portion of the day, men still gathered around the cafes (just not inside them or drinking tea), and kids are everywhere! Those boogers don’t have to fast so they’re out and playing for a good portion of the day. Still the level of activity was definitely less, but it wasn’t the stand still I thought it’d be. There were men still working construction ( don’t know how they do it), men working at the metal shops, and most other labor jobs in town. So that was a bit of a surprise.
From our last training in Ouarzazate, our staff were super supportive of us about to experience our first Ramadan. They said things like… “Sure you’ll be bored, but this is a great time to get invitations to meet families. During Ramadan people tend to be more giving, etc.” I was determined to be more sociable and go out, break fast with families and work on language. I thought I’d be walking down the streets and people would be waving and smiling (very miss guided, I know. I mean who’s going to be all smiley when they haven’t ate or drank in 13 hours). But I was hoping for the best. Families that would draw me in and make me talk to them. That and I had heard from different places that while the day may be slow, it’s a party at night when people hit the streets and mingle and eat and talk. Almost like a block party, just sort of town wide.
Well folks, I have managed to break fast with…. Drum roll…..still rolling…. TWO families. Hahaha Yep… I managed to get drawn in by two families, my host family and the family of a friend (who I’d had coffee and ate with numerous times). My experience will not put me on a list for super star volunteer, but my experience was my own and I don’t really regret it. I strayed out of my house around the invite time and was unsuccessful on a number of occasions. There just weren’t the smiley faces and the waving like I’d hoped. I even fasted for two days (haha I know that’s not much at all, but good for me considering I wasn’t going to even try), but still walking past houses looking thirsty and tired didn’t get me any random invites. There must be something about this face that just doesn’t look desperate or friendly enough. That or the more likely reason was that actually many of the women were already in the houses cooking when I wandered around and they’re tough cookies to crack anyway. I mean I don’t blame them. Who wants some awkward foreigner eating up all the figs or soup, pssh not me. Also I’m really beginning to enjoy experiementing with cooking and I prefer eating at home.
So what was breaking fast like with my two families? Both very different, so that’s been nice. **Side note.. I’ve still got a week or so to branch out… haha** My host family is a bit more serious? Everyone prayed right after the call to prayer announcing the time to break fast. Even the 9 year old did and I’d never seen my host mom pray before Ramadan. They had a variety of things to eat. Fresh figs and grapes are in season now. That’s been my favorite. The weirdest was probably stuffed bread, but it had chunks of fat mixed with the onions and peppers. Not pleasant.
The other family I fasted with didn’t pray or read from the Koran. They just dug into the food and in general joked around a lot more. They also have more kids and older ones, so the family dynamics are pretty different already between the two. Also some really interesting foods and juices served. The best was an eggplant, onion, pepper, tomato stew that we ate with bread. Weirdest was some chicken insides mixed with peppers. I heard crunching while people ate… I have no idea what it was. That’s the fun about Moroccan families and food, you never know what it’s going to be. Just plan on tea, Harira (hearty soup almost always served at break fast), and bread.
Ramadan has been going by faster than I thought, been in general better than I expected (even if I haven’t been that social… oops). I’ve read 4 books since the start of Ramadan, started composting (how do I find a way to get bags of dirt in my house, without being the weird American who’s stealing dirt from around town? Haven’t figured that out yet), attempted to haul rocks on a hike for the chicken coop (wasn’t fasting but got super sick, never again. I only have one rock for the coop), devoted one wall to putting up Tam, Arabic, and French lessons, so I can more easily study just by staring at the wall, and I’ve spent 3 full weeks in site. A new record. Oh and I can’t forget that I’ve made homemade pancakes, learned to love lentils, and finally posted a few pictures of my apartment.
All in all a relatively productive Ramadan thus far. It’s all about those little goals. I mean I talked about posting pictures of my apartment before Ouarzazate. Thanks for reading… hope you’re looking forward to the blog about the Little and Big Eid (Celebration). The little one happens the last day of Ramadan and the big one is in November (when everyone goes meat crazy and kills and eats everything). Well that last part was an exaggeration, but it’s a huge deal so be sure to follow up. The Muslim holidays are just beginning my friends!
Ramadan! Muslim holiday characterized by a month of fasting! Goes by the Islamic calendar and this year it was August 13thish to September 10thish (Moon decides when it starts and stops). Next year it will be earlier! HOLY COW, even hotter then. Fasting starts from where there is only a line of light on the horizon until sunset. Around 4 in the morning to 7:30ish at night. No water! No food! Nothing!
Who fasts? Not kids, until they become teenagers. Pregnant women, women who are nursing, sick people, very old people are not required to fast by the Koran. The Koran says these individuals (minus the old dudes, pretty sure I’m right on this) will make up for it later in the year, but not just fast for one month… 2 or 3 months are required? Or by giving alms and it’s a lot. I think you have to feed 30 people for every DAY you miss fasting. I dunno there are so many ways to get around actually fasting and making it up later.
But! Just because the Koran says these people are exempt doesn’t mean that they actually forego fasting. Unfortunately there are a lot of older individuals who still fast and even quite a few nursing women (yet to see a pregnant woman who is fasting, but I’ve heard it happens). Ramadan during a hot month such as this year’s can be dangerous for these individuals. This is a time when some older folk tend to kick the bucket, but the nice thing is the Koran says if you die during Ramadan it is a straight ticket to heaven. So hey! Not such a bad time to go. All that aside, Ramadan is a month of denying the body and being closer to God.
So those are the very very short basics. How did I think this would affect me exactly or what was I expecting to happen in my site? Well first off through different training sessions and talks with other volunteers, I sort of had a lot of expectations for Ramadan. Most of them weren’t great either, but just like everything in Peace Corps everyone’s experience is so different and my Ramadan so far hasn’t been quite what I expected. Since no one eats during the day, cafes are closed and I kept hearing that basically everything just comes to a standstill during Ramadan. Especially since this one was going to be hard, because of the weather, I expected everyone to be sleeping most of the time. I didn’t figure I’d see many people out or see many people traveling. I thought I’d be walking around a ghost town with little tumble weeds blowing in the wind. Well that definitely wasn’t the case in my site. Almost all the stores where open for a good portion of the day, men still gathered around the cafes (just not inside them or drinking tea), and kids are everywhere! Those boogers don’t have to fast so they’re out and playing for a good portion of the day. Still the level of activity was definitely less, but it wasn’t the stand still I thought it’d be. There were men still working construction ( don’t know how they do it), men working at the metal shops, and most other labor jobs in town. So that was a bit of a surprise.
From our last training in Ouarzazate, our staff were super supportive of us about to experience our first Ramadan. They said things like… “Sure you’ll be bored, but this is a great time to get invitations to meet families. During Ramadan people tend to be more giving, etc.” I was determined to be more sociable and go out, break fast with families and work on language. I thought I’d be walking down the streets and people would be waving and smiling (very miss guided, I know. I mean who’s going to be all smiley when they haven’t ate or drank in 13 hours). But I was hoping for the best. Families that would draw me in and make me talk to them. That and I had heard from different places that while the day may be slow, it’s a party at night when people hit the streets and mingle and eat and talk. Almost like a block party, just sort of town wide.
Well folks, I have managed to break fast with…. Drum roll…..still rolling…. TWO families. Hahaha Yep… I managed to get drawn in by two families, my host family and the family of a friend (who I’d had coffee and ate with numerous times). My experience will not put me on a list for super star volunteer, but my experience was my own and I don’t really regret it. I strayed out of my house around the invite time and was unsuccessful on a number of occasions. There just weren’t the smiley faces and the waving like I’d hoped. I even fasted for two days (haha I know that’s not much at all, but good for me considering I wasn’t going to even try), but still walking past houses looking thirsty and tired didn’t get me any random invites. There must be something about this face that just doesn’t look desperate or friendly enough. That or the more likely reason was that actually many of the women were already in the houses cooking when I wandered around and they’re tough cookies to crack anyway. I mean I don’t blame them. Who wants some awkward foreigner eating up all the figs or soup, pssh not me. Also I’m really beginning to enjoy experiementing with cooking and I prefer eating at home.
So what was breaking fast like with my two families? Both very different, so that’s been nice. **Side note.. I’ve still got a week or so to branch out… haha** My host family is a bit more serious? Everyone prayed right after the call to prayer announcing the time to break fast. Even the 9 year old did and I’d never seen my host mom pray before Ramadan. They had a variety of things to eat. Fresh figs and grapes are in season now. That’s been my favorite. The weirdest was probably stuffed bread, but it had chunks of fat mixed with the onions and peppers. Not pleasant.
The other family I fasted with didn’t pray or read from the Koran. They just dug into the food and in general joked around a lot more. They also have more kids and older ones, so the family dynamics are pretty different already between the two. Also some really interesting foods and juices served. The best was an eggplant, onion, pepper, tomato stew that we ate with bread. Weirdest was some chicken insides mixed with peppers. I heard crunching while people ate… I have no idea what it was. That’s the fun about Moroccan families and food, you never know what it’s going to be. Just plan on tea, Harira (hearty soup almost always served at break fast), and bread.
Ramadan has been going by faster than I thought, been in general better than I expected (even if I haven’t been that social… oops). I’ve read 4 books since the start of Ramadan, started composting (how do I find a way to get bags of dirt in my house, without being the weird American who’s stealing dirt from around town? Haven’t figured that out yet), attempted to haul rocks on a hike for the chicken coop (wasn’t fasting but got super sick, never again. I only have one rock for the coop), devoted one wall to putting up Tam, Arabic, and French lessons, so I can more easily study just by staring at the wall, and I’ve spent 3 full weeks in site. A new record. Oh and I can’t forget that I’ve made homemade pancakes, learned to love lentils, and finally posted a few pictures of my apartment.
All in all a relatively productive Ramadan thus far. It’s all about those little goals. I mean I talked about posting pictures of my apartment before Ouarzazate. Thanks for reading… hope you’re looking forward to the blog about the Little and Big Eid (Celebration). The little one happens the last day of Ramadan and the big one is in November (when everyone goes meat crazy and kills and eats everything). Well that last part was an exaggeration, but it’s a huge deal so be sure to follow up. The Muslim holidays are just beginning my friends!
