Ramadan has just started in Morocco and this year everyone is dreading the longer, hotter days of a summer Ramadan.
Ramadan is the 9th of 12 months from the traditional Islamic calendar. Each month begins with sighting of the new moon and lasts until the next new moon is sighted – or a maximum of 30 days if you are experiencing lots of cloudy weather. As the start of the month depends on when you see the new moon it also naturally varies as you move west. Each country runs with a slightly different timing of events, and each year the festivals marked in the Muslim calendar creep forward against the Gregorian calendar by around 11 days. The calendar officially began when the prophet Mohamed arrived in Medina (in 622AD) and is known as the Hijri Calendar. We are now in the year 1430AH, even though that was only around 1387 years ago according to the western calendar. I am not sure if this makes me older or younger when in Morocco?
This is the holiest of months in the Islamic calendar, and the aim of the fasting is to help people get in touch with the spiritual side of life rather than their usual concern with the material, to learn self discipline and to impart some understanding of the lives of poor people who regularly cannot eat as well as they need to. As well as giving up eating and drinking and sex during daylight hours, all healthy adults are meant to give up all other vices including smoking and gossiping.
This last week the frenzied activity in preparation stuttered to a close as it was finally announced that Ramadan has started in Morocco. As in the weeks (months!) before Christmas in the west, the shops have been full of special Ramadan treats and of course prices have gone up. In the homes, women have been busy baking and dusting off the soup tureen.
There is a strange incongruity that the month of the “Parched Thirst” is characterised by the consumption of so many special little treats and luxuries. In fact, during Ramadan most Moroccans gain weight.
There will be more posted about Ramadan as the month progresses .....
