Ramadan: Iftar and other fun stuff

In some senses - and I stress some - Ramadan is comparable to Christmas in the US.  What I mean by that is that, over the month of December, there is a certain festivitity.  Stores have sales, there are decorations, this is a time when people visit family and give gifts (and like Christmas, there is a spiritual element that can get lost, but I'll touch on that in the next post).

Iftar - Iftar is the breaking of the fast.  Sometimes people will invite you over for Iftar.  I imagine that an Iftar event varies as widely as Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner does for people in the America.  However, there seem to be some certain similarities among Iftars.  Often the fast is broken with dates and labna (a drink that is half-way between milk and yoghurt).   The dates give some sugar to the body and its a relatively light snack to ease the stomach back into eating after not eating all day.

There are also Iftar tents set up all over Bahrain.  These are large tents often outside of 'local' (as opposed to foreign chains like Chilis or Applebees) restaurants and coffee shops.  I went to an Iftar tent a long time ago, and basically its a large buffet that opens after the breaking of the fast.  There are lots of tables and Arabic couches (

Family - I think that Bahrainis are more family oriented in general (often Friday is a day for visiting extended family), and Ramadan is even MORE so.  Instead of just Friday, one might spend 3 or 4 nights a week visiting various extended family.  Sometimes it is for the Iftar, and sometimes it is for an extended evening.  And so while those in America may spend 2 or 3 days 'putting up with' family, my Bahraini friends often spend the entire

Gifts - A couple of years ago in my economics class, I had the kids record what they spent their money on.  The unit happened to be during Ramadan, and I was surprised to find so much money going towards gifts, or, when recording assets, the new things that were added that were also for gifts.  This is something I don't know a whole lot about - such as when gifts are given.  My Bahraini friends can help me out.

Sales - Where two or more are gathered, some one else will come to sell them stuff.  Stores decorate their doors with signs advertising special sales just for Ramadan.  There are specials on TV for Ramadan, though they are all in Arabic, so I'm not sure if they are specials in the vein of Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  I imagine some of my Muslim friends would bemoan the way that commercialism has overshadowed Christmas (and even Easter) as celebrating the birth and resurrection of Jesus.

My Bahraini friends - are there other things that you would like to add about the fun side of Ramadan?  Send me a FB message, an email or give me a call and I can add (or write a new post if there's enough stuff).

Next week I'll post something about the spiritual side about Ramadan.