T’is the time of the year when you will find totally faded shopkeepers, heads resting on their arms, on top of their counters; too tired to even look at the costumer that just entered the store. The time of the year when at 7 o’clock, this part of town is a ghost town; even tumbleweed won’t move.
The time of the year when Lebanese for once organize dinner parties at decent hours; guest are in at 7, and out at 8.
The time of the year when the little drummer man walks the streets at 2 o’clock in the morning, waking up the neighborhood for a last meal with his shouting and his banging.
The time of the year when TV shows are even sillier than usual.
Ramadan has started today.
For the uninformed under us, (it took me a good 5 years to comprehend the whole thing), Ramadan is actually the name of a month. I know they always call it the ‘holy month of Ramadan’, but I never connected it to an actual month in a calendar, but more of a feast (like Christmas for instance) until someone recited the 12 months in an Islamic year to me.
“You mean Ramadan is a month?” I remember saying.
“Duuhhh,” was the reply.
I won’t go into the whole explanation of it, you can find it here, but Ramadan has come. This year it takes place at a time when the day is pretty long over here, and so people suffer quite a bit, because they cannot break fast until sun set (or somewhere around there).
The idea of fasting is nothing unusual; the jews do it (although I’m not quite sure when and why), and so do the christians in this country.
I’m a bit slow in these things, but another friend had to point it out to me that during the christian fast, Burger King and McDonalds always advertise with their fish burger.
“So”?
“Because they cannot eat meat! Only fish.” (Another duuhh)
In Holland, people don’t fast. At least, I don’t know any that do. And therefore it was quite a surprise to me when I learned that several of my (christian) friends in Lebanon do fast. I remember my mother telling me stories of her friends and her fasting when they were young, but those were ‘do you remember when. . . ‘ stories. Something they had done eons ago, but definitely not something of these times.
You do not notice anything of Ramadan in the christian neighborhoods of Beirut. Even in my corner there are few signs of it. But if you drive through the traditionally muslim neighborhoods, the decorated shop fronts are abundant. Just like Christmas.
The time of the year when TV shows are even sillier than usual.
Ramadan has started today.
For the uninformed under us, (it took me a good 5 years to comprehend the whole thing), Ramadan is actually the name of a month. I know they always call it the ‘holy month of Ramadan’, but I never connected it to an actual month in a calendar, but more of a feast (like Christmas for instance) until someone recited the 12 months in an Islamic year to me.
“You mean Ramadan is a month?” I remember saying.
“Duuhhh,” was the reply.
I won’t go into the whole explanation of it, you can find it here, but Ramadan has come. This year it takes place at a time when the day is pretty long over here, and so people suffer quite a bit, because they cannot break fast until sun set (or somewhere around there).
The idea of fasting is nothing unusual; the jews do it (although I’m not quite sure when and why), and so do the christians in this country.
I’m a bit slow in these things, but another friend had to point it out to me that during the christian fast, Burger King and McDonalds always advertise with their fish burger.
“So”?
“Because they cannot eat meat! Only fish.” (Another duuhh)
In Holland, people don’t fast. At least, I don’t know any that do. And therefore it was quite a surprise to me when I learned that several of my (christian) friends in Lebanon do fast. I remember my mother telling me stories of her friends and her fasting when they were young, but those were ‘do you remember when. . . ‘ stories. Something they had done eons ago, but definitely not something of these times.
You do not notice anything of Ramadan in the christian neighborhoods of Beirut. Even in my corner there are few signs of it. But if you drive through the traditionally muslim neighborhoods, the decorated shop fronts are abundant. Just like Christmas.
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