as-salamu alaykum :) welcome in Saudi Arabia , this is how we celebrate days of Ramadan :) Its the 9th month in the Islamic Calendar. In the Islamic traditions, Muslims supposed to observe the crescent to annouce the first day of Ramadan the next day; so the same thing to end fasting. In Jeddah, the whole lifestyle of people simply changes. - Shopping malls operate 5pm -2am and in the last 10 days of Ramadan until 4am! - Public and private sectors including schools start late with shorter days usually 10pm- 3pm - My part of cultural amusement: the streets and malls start to wear a new dress of decoration, red, white, and green and other traditional colours - Saudi women wear their traditional fancy thobes, only to show them off in this month! - Fasting people often seen with prayer rosary either for praying or fashion, and again with Miswak chewing stick to let the mouth smell go away, based on an Islamic tradition - Restaurants close during the whole day to all people and start operating after al Asr prayer (late afternoon). - Mosques, usually big, host free Iftar meal every night for 30 days, sponsored by volunteers and home-made food and drinks. It is the holy month of increasing good deeds and spreading goodness, so people usually bring lots of food at Magrib prayer to have their breakfast (first meal after fasting) together. When the prayer is being called, exactly in 2 minutes, all the food and wastes will be cleaned away as people collaboratively do this! i love this scene. - Mosques perform Taraweeh prayers after Isha (the usual evening prayer), and that is 8pm -9:30pm. In the last 10 days, there will be another service, ie Tahajud, 12am -3am. - People prepare special food and drinks only for Ramadan, including Sambosa, Dates and Dairy, Cereal soup, Foul, and loads of desserts like Toromba, basboosa and mehallabiyya. The modern joke is...that Ramadan is supposed to lose weight but now it is to gain more weight for all the special Ramadan sweets and desserts. It is just an enriching flourishing experience for everyone:^)
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:08:12 +0000
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