Experiencing Ramadan

At the end of the first day of fasting, we had hiked up to the Spanish mosque for beautiful sunset views over Chefchaouen (the "blue city") and were making our way down when we heard the adhan al-maghrib (evening call to prayer).

One particularly cool part of our amazing Morocco trip is that we got to experience the beginning of Ramadan. While we heard the five times daily call to prayer all during our trip, this one here was special, as it marked the sunset after the first full day of fasting. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. They eat a crazy early morning meal at around 3:30am, and then don’t eat or drink again until after sundown. The fast is typically broken first with dates, then harira, a spicy tomato noodle soup. During the afternoon of the first day of fasting, we kept smelling this great cooking smell but couldn’t pin it to a restaurant. We later learned it was coming from all the homes cooking harira. As with the call to prayer, the timing of Ramadan is based on astronomical definitions. It begins when the moon is first sighted after the new moon. Because this is done old-school, by actual sighting, it creates some uncertainty about when exactly it will start and end. It really just depends. Last Sunday, there was anticipation — Ramadan might start tonight, but it depends if we see the moon. As it turns out, many Muslim countries saw the moon on Sunday night and began their fast, but the Moroccans did not see the moon, so their month of fasting didn’t begin until Monday night. And Monday night, when they did see the moon, what a commotion! Around 2am, folks parade around town beating drums and blowing horns, rousing everyone for the pre-dawn meal. At about 3:30am, there’s a special Ramadan edition call to prayer. And as we learned, the commotion isn’t restricted to the first night, it goes on all month. The second night, it seemed like even more drumming and horns. The kids stay up late, and the whole town shifts into a nightlife cadence. Felt a bit like our New Years Eve or Fourth of July. So cool to get to experience this!