"According to tradition, Ramadan - the month of revelation - was instituted in the second year of the Hejira, eight years before the death of the Prophet. Together with the profession of faith, prayer, charitable giving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca, it is one of the five pillars of Islam. Ramadan lasts for one lunar cycle, during which the faithful must abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, or sexual relations from sunrise to sunset.
During this period, believers experience hunger and thirst, and test their resistance to temptation. Mortified in this way, disconnected from the everyday nourishment and in search of alternative stimuli through reflection and prayer, the body attains new states, satisfying the believer's quest for spirituality. The observance of Ramadan is a religious obligation for all Muslims beyond the age of puberty - a moral duty whose means of fulfillment are clearly described in the Hadith, and which is supposed to encourage the faithful to share and understand human suffering.
Nightfall - or more precisely the moment at which it is no longer possible under natural light to distinguish a black thread from a white one - marks the end of the fast, and a return to normal eating, with a meal following a carefully codified program. The first morsel is a date with some water, in reference to the food of the Prophet. Next comes liquids - soup and fruit juices - served with salad, to prepare the stomach for more substantial food. Carbohydrates are served later in the evening: couscous, pasta or rice, and finally pastries.
Throughout the month of Ramadan, then, families who can afford to do so enjoy festive meals and celebrations every evening. Paradoxically for a practice intended to promote an ideal of asceticism, the abundant consumption of sugars and the lack of physical effort undertaken during the day often result in noticeable weight gain for the greediest eaters. Festive family gatherings generally result in noisy activity after nightfall, hence the French expression faire du ramadan, "to make a racket," which entered the language at the end of the nineteenth century."
Milet, Eric, Orientalist Photographs 1870-1950, Flammiron (2008), p. 40.
I came across this description of the holy month and thought it worth sharing (a few French insights excepted, but I left them). I walked at 6am today with my equally insane walking partner. Knowing that the refreshment stand would be closed at our halfway mark where we usually buy 3 bottles each (one to be poured over the head), we had to organize our cars and plant the illicit cooler in my Jeep so we could get some water in the 100+ temps an hour later by climbing in, dripping with sweat, and sneaking some much-needed hydration.
All over town there are state-of-the-art tents with massive a/c installations set up adjacent to the hotels. They go up for the month of Ramadan and serve Iftar (the fast-breaking meal at dusk) and Sohour (the more festive meal at 9pm). We went to one of these tents Wednesday night and enjoyed great food, shisha, and fantastic live music. I am looking for the tent with the whirling dervishes for the next Sohour outing and cameras are permitted - stay tuned.
P.S. The self-righteous rhetoric surrounding the construction of the Islamic Center in lower Manhattan is nauseating. If Newt Gingrich never opens his mouth again, it will be too soon.
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