Fasting and the Fête de Ramadan

As many of you know, the holy month of Ramadan ended over a week ago, on the 23rd of October. Though some of you have perhaps—and unfortunately—associated the passing of Ramadan this year with the so-called “fourth deadliest month” in Iraq since the war began, we hope that this small post will help change that perception a bit with something a little more positive.

To fill you in (if need be), Ramadan is a month of fasting and of prayer. One is denied food AND drink during daylight hours, so breakfast is had before sunrise (about 4:00am here), and families break the fast of the day after sunset (6:30pm). Children may chose to fast for 2, 4, 6, etc number of days (as long as it’s an even number) to prepare them gradually for when they will need to fast for the entire month as a mature adolescent. We decided to do the same, fasting for 4 days with the family. The first two days we fasted were OK and passed without incident; the second day was particularly nice as we ended up spending it at the beach! But the last two days we fasted, just before the end of Ramadan, we both got horrible headaches. Probably had something to do with driving around in a car trying to shop for food that we couldn’t eat. Sadie ended up getting car sick and almost vomited. Do NOT let you’re little ones try this at home!

On a more positive note, we learned that when you break the fast in the evening, you eat different kinds of foods than you would normally for dinner…and they’re yummy! You start off by drinking tea, and there are plates of oranges, bananas, papaya sprinkled with lime or lemon (we’re not sure which one…both are called “citron” here), avocado smothered in mayonnaise (Cameroonians call avocados “pears”), deep-fried dough rings and fried bean cakes (kosai) from the Hausa quarter of Yaoundé (known as “Bric”…make sure you roll the “r” big time). And the meat-eaters, of course, had their beef. All in all, breaking the fast together with the family is a really wonderful experience. Toward the end of the month, though, everybody is so tired; Usuman and Habiba said they didn’t really even feel the hunger anymore, it’s just that their bodies were completely worn down.

The day of the Fête de Ramadan, which Muslims here call “Salla,” seemed to be a big relief for just about everyone – except for Habiba who was cooking for everyone all day. It was a day of getting dressed up in your new clothes and finery, of good food and music, and of celebration with friends and family. And in most Muslim villages and towns in Cameroon the festivities lasted throughout the week.

In sum, while this is a VERY brief summary of how our friends in Cameroon’s Muslim community experienced Ramadan, we hope it will help balance out whatever CNN has been showing you from the frontlines in the Middle East. PEACE!

(Pic above: The lady to the left of Sadie is Habiba, Usuman’s wife; most of the other people in the photo are relatives of Usuman and Habiba.)