Ramazan "Might" be Over

The last few days of Ramazan, things started to look a little different.

There were sermons on the mosque loud-speakers every day (not just on Fridays, like normal).

There were additional calls to prayer throughout the evening, besides the normal five.

During the morning and early afternoon, the streets were still pretty vacant.

And everyone still scrambled to get where they were going by 7:30pm to break fast with their families.

But starting around 4pm until 2 or 3am (excepting dinner), people were out shopping like crazy.

For toys,




































 Spices,




 

Olives, 




































 Dishes,




































and Fruit.




































One thing every family needs every day of Ramazan is dates.

Lots and lots of dates (and I'm not talking about the boy/girl kind). 

I'm talking about the fruity kind.

Each person (so I've heard) breaks their daily fast with a date.  I haven't been able to find out why except that one person said for those who only take a date at the break and then go pray, the sugar in the date gives them enough energy to make it through their prayers before they eat.

But I have met several people who eat their date plus a full meal before they go pray.

At the end of Ramazan, there seemed to be a big sale on dates.

Here's something else we saw.  I don't know if it's a Ramazan thing or a summer thing, but trucks come down from the mountain filled with snow and covered with a tarp, and then somebody sells the snow out of the back of the truck.

I'll bet all the drink sellers who fill their big metal tubs with drinks and ice use this snow as a cheaper option to ice.

 Alright, so we were thinking that since Almanacs, the internet, etc tells us what the stages of the moon are, we would be able to tell when Ramazan ends.

NOPE!

On July 4th, "we" were pretty sure that Ramazan would be over the next day.  We even cancelled language with certainty (because of the internet, etc).  But, boy, were we wrong.

We were told that everyone would know at 8pm, when it was announced on the news, if Ramazan was over that night or not.

They were all waiting on a man in Saudi to see "something" in particular about the moon.

He didn't see it.

He said they had one more day of fasting.

And we had one more day of language.

Funny enough, the US, London, Germany, etc. did not take one more day of fasting.  They ended it that night.  So maybe it's just a Middle Eastern thing??

I really don't know.

What I do know, is that now that they knew the 6th of July would be the end, they started getting ready for the three day celebration called Eid al-Fitr.

They bought a lot of baklava and chocolate, which are both important for the celebration.

There's always a story to tell around here, so I'll fill you in on the "after" celebration tomorrow.