Ramadan Kareem/Eid Mubarak!

The month of Ramadan is now come and gone, thankfully! Starting September 1 and running through September 29 the whole of the UAE observes the holy month of Ramadan. Basically, there is no eating or drinking from sun up to sun down. The government has made it a law that anyone, even Westerners, are forbidden to eat in public during this month. If caught they won’t send you to jail but they will give you a hefty little fine to pay. Now that being said, I did still drink my coffee in the morning on the way to taking the girls to school. I just had to be aware of who was driving around me, police/Arabs, before I would take a sip of it! Most all of the restaurants are closed during the day and would open back up around 6:30/7pm and then stay open until 2/3am. You could find some establishments open during the day but it was very word of mouth, ”oh I heard at the back of the mall there is a place open but the shades will be drawn and it won’t look like it is open but go in, they are serving people” kind of thing. The hardest one for me to survive was Starbucks and Costa Coffee being closed. The one establishment that stayed open the whole month was McDonalds! Those golden arches were like a beacon in a dark night! You couldn’t eat inside but the drive through and the inside were open for take away, which meant I could at least get a coffee in the afternoon!

At night the Muslims would celebrate Iftar. The radio would announce throughout the day what time Iftar would be starting, usually around 6:15/6:30 and that is the time you could start eating, breaking your fast. Iftar every night is a big celebration. Either you would be getting together to have a big dinner with your family or all of the restaurants/hotels would have tents set up with lavish buffets. At the end of the month starting around the 28th, we were all waiting for the government to announce when Ramadan would be over and the start of Eid (pronounced like Eve but substitute a D where the V is). They have to see the full moon for Ramadan to be over and Eid to start. If by chance they don’t see the full moon, say it is cloudy then Ramadan would only last 30 days and would be over but this year they actually sited the full moon on the 28th, so Ramadan was officially over and the restaurants all opened on the 29th. As soon as the government pronounces Eid everything closes and most everyone goes on holiday. It would be the equivalent to our Christmas and the week following through our New Year’s. The girls all had the week off from school and most business/government offices are closed. We took the girls to a huge Eid Mubarak celebration at the Jebel Ali Beach Resort. It was all outside, so we sat at a round table for 10 right by the stage. They had a beautiful woman singing, periodically through the night, who was from Lebanon.

Every year Ramadan moves forward in the calendar by about 11 days. Which means, next year Ramadan should start sometime mid August and run through mid September, which has me thinking we might just have to stay a little longer this coming summer in Kansas City. Maybe we won’t return to Dubai until after Labor Day so we just hit the tail end of the holy month. I’m thinking my mom might like that idea the most since it will mean more time with her grandkids!

So if you ever find yourself in a Muslim country during Ramadan be sure to tell everyone Ramadan Kareem and when Ramadan is officially over be sure to tell everyone Eid Mubarak! Basically Happy Ramadan and Happy Eid, similar to Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love to all,

Jennifer