Ramadan

This year, Ramadan started on March 11/12 and finishes in early April. At the ending of Ramadan, there is a holiday called Idul Fitri. This was described to me as similar to Christmas celebrations, there is lots of eating, praying, and a big part of it is to forgive those around you.

I only ended up spending about half of Ramadan with my host family because we had 2 weeks of Peace Corps training. Ramadan started on March 12th this year.  The month of Ramadan ends with a holiday called Idul Fitri, where many schools here have one week off to celebrate.

School is still going during the month of Ramadan but it has reduced hours. The first 2 weeks of Ramadan, classes happen as normal, just with shorter classes times. During the last 2 weeks, there is school but there is only religious activities happening during that time. Typically my school is from 7 am to 3 pm but during Ramadan, school starts at 8 am and finished at 1 pm.

The part of Ramadan that I’ve participated in the most is the breaking of fast at a bit past 6 pm. Every day the family prepares a big meal and eats together. This is great because during other months, due to different work and school schedules, we often do not all eat together. During Ramadan, however, the breaking of the fast is very important.  It seems like the meals during Ramadan are more extravagant than usual with 4-5 different dishes along with rice and sambal.  Es Campur  (Ice Mix) is a very popular and common dish to have after a meal here. It’s fruit and jellies in a sweet milk/water mixture. I don’t think I was that much of a fan of jellies when I first got here but at least in Es Campur I really enjoy it.

Although I have tried a few days of fasting with my host family, I have not fasted for all of it and my host mom prepares me food for lunch that I can eat in my room. I have a little host sister who is 8 years old and I eat in my room so it doesn’t make her want food. My host family wakes up at 3 am to have the last meal before the fast window closes at 4:30/5 am. I tried this once and found that not only did I not want to wake up that early but also that I was not hungry that early.

Below are some photos of the food and prep.