Morocco and Ramadan

I just returned from a seven day sojourn in Morocco during the holy month of Ramadan, the month in which Muslims celebrate the revelation of the Koran and fast from sun rise to sunset.  This fast is required of all who are able, excepting nursing mothers, pregnant women, travelers or those with medical conditions that prohibit this kind of discipline.  And discipline it is.  The call to prayer comes five times a day, and the one at 3 o'clock in the morning harkens the faithful to pray and eat before the sun rises.  This is when breakfast is eaten, showers taken and teeth are brushed. No food or drink, including water, will pass the lips of the faithful until the call to break the fast comes as the sun sinks into the western  horizon.



King Hassan II Mosque, Casablancaa

And although there are many similarities that exist in looking at both Ramadan and the Christian season of penitence, Lent, there are also significant differences.  Both are movable feasts,  Lent primarily happens in the Spring of the year.  Ramadan cycles through the year and  can occur in any season.  The next few years will see it happen in summer for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.  This means longer days for the faithful followers with longer stretches of time between meals. Most are fasting between 4:00am and 7:00pm in the evening around fifteen hours that encompasses the hottest hours of the workday.   And the heat in Morocco can be extremely oppressive; one day we topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Some workers can work around the heat: merchants don't open until the hottest time of the day is past They compensate for this by remaining open after the evening iftar (the meal that families share at the end of the fast). Others, like the construction workers we saw  along the highway, push their work into the evening hours when the nights are dry and cool.  They can also rehydrate during that time with water, something forbidden during the hours of the fast.


And through the day there is the constant reminder of one's humanity/mortality as the faithful are called from the minaret to pray.  Rugs are rolled out in the marketplace as folk face the east and repeat the prayers that are engraved on many buildings and in the hearts of believers...prayers in unison, following an ancient scripted format taught to the young and carried into adulthood.

The faithful at the Mosque, Marrakesh

But the culmination of the daily routine of this holy time of year comes as the sun has descended below the horizon and the call goes out to break the fast.  Night after night we witnessed hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of men, women and children walking to the local Mosque with prayer rugs slung over their shoulders to join with their neighbors in the ritual of familiar prayer: eight mandatory sets of prayers with an additional twelve optional ones for a sum total of twenty sets of chanted prayers with responses and a series of bowing, kneeling and prostrating. Men and women pray separately; the women often leave after the required eight sets to ready the table for the iftar.  Middle Eastern society still clings to a patriarchal system we in the West find restrictive, but more on that in a future piece.

Iftar in Fez

The iftar itself is like breakfast on steroids! Hard boiled eggs, honey covered pastries, dates, figs, crepes with strawberry preserves, skewered meats, nuts, and hearty soups made of lentils and pigeons (Yes, those pesky urban fliers are raised to be consumed in a rather gamey broth combined with carrots, onions and rice...not bad tasting, if I do say so.It does not taste like chicken...more like duck). It is tradition to break the fast with three dates and either water or milk.  This is a time to be with friends and family.


Souk in Marrakesh



Iftar in Rabat

 It is also a time to enjoy yourself and indulge the kiddos with sweets and treats. Family groups of moms, dads and kinder stroll through the market with balloons and cotton candy in hand. Grandparents hold the hands of toddlers and teens alike as they stroll along the rows of merchants selling everything from orange juice to copper lanterns with a few snake charmers thrown in for good measure. Shops and restaurants are open until  the wee hours, and young folks stroll by in clumps of males and females eyeing each other across the markets. Occasionally you will see a set of two or three couples walking together elbows barely touching...the mating dance in Morocco forbids overt touching in public, so this gentle flirtation is the closest they come to walking hand-in-hand.

And soon it is time again  to pray, and the ancient cycle continues.