Children's Fanoos (Lantern)

Each year during Ramadan, kids get given toy lanterns. They have loud music and bright alternating lights. Fabulous fun.

Ramadan Fanoos (Lanterns)

In Egypt, Ramadan is a festival of lights, with lanterns of all sizes and shapes being lit during this holy month. The tradition apparently dates back to 968 when the people would celebrate the arrival of the Caliph. For more on the history of the tradition see this article on The Ramadan Lantern. Today, in Egypt lights are strung from homes and apartment buildings not just in the form of lanterns, but also long strings of LEDS (see my post on Ramadan Lights).

Khoshev

This is one of my favorite fabulous things about Ramadan. Khoshev is the first thing you eat after you break your fast at sunset. It can be made in a number of ways, but the basic recipe is dates, with prunes, apricots, raisins, soaked in either water or milk. You prepare this first thing in the morning, so by the time you break your fast, the water/milk has taken on all the sweetness of the dates and raisins, etc. and tastes fabulously delicious.

Ramadan TV Series

Every Ramadan, following iftar (breakfast, or break the fast), families gather around their TV sets and prepare for the best TV pickings of the year, the special Ramadan series which air every night during the month of Ramadan. Like month-long mini-series, the shows build on one another, so to "get" what's really going on, you probably have to watch each night.

Comedies, historic dramas, talk shows, candid camera, Hindi movies, and a whole lot of Egyptian series that look an awful lot like daytime soap operas, you have your wide pick of viewing. I must say, it seems to me the pickings get better each year.

Bakar

Bakar is an adorable cartoon series that airs every Ramadan after the breakfast (i.e., break fast, when the sun sets). Each episode carries another moral lesson about virtue and the series displays fantastic scenes from the local rural life in Egypt.

Ramadan Lights

It's like Christmas... only it's Ramadan.

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First Day of Ramadan!

The first day of Ramadan is a really joyous occasion, as families begin on a month-long spiritual and family-oriented period of alternating fasting and feasting. Ramadan is the month in which Muslims believe that the revelation of the Quran was completed. During this month, Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. The month is meant to teach self-control, moderation, discipline, self-awareness, as well as awareness of others (such as those suffering from hunger on a daily basis) and is not only about abstinence but also about doing good works and especially charity.

In Egypt, the country transforms for this entire month into a different place (highly recommended time to come visit!). After sunset ("Magreb" in Arabic), families and friends gather and break their fasts together in celebration and prayer. (You can compare the meals in Egypt to an entire month of Christmas dinners - with a 3 day holiday of eating sweets tacked on at the end).

The following posts in the coming days will give a small glimpse into Egypt during this special and fabulous period.