“Ramadan is a religious observance that Muslims participate in, where we fast for 30 days. But what some people don’t realize is that it’s not just fasting. It’s a time to be especially devout, with a lot of spiritual practices involved. We end the month with Eid, a celebration of all we’ve done during the month.
I’ve celebrated it all my life. I obviously didn’t fast as a baby/toddler, but I started voluntarily fasting around first or second grade and have participated in as much as I could every year.
In my house, breaking our fast (iftar) is a big deal. We make a lot of super yummy food and follow traditional practices, then go to a special nightly prayer that only happens during Ramadan. In the mornings, we wake up for suhur, a meal that we eat to keep us full for the entire day.
What I look forward to the most is the community. Everyone’s at the mosque more often, we gather for iftars, and it’s a really nice way to connect with the Muslim community, inside and outside school.
We break our fast with a whole feast, but my favorites are my mom’s egg puffs, her beef and chicken samosas, and rose milk. It’s also traditional to break fast with dates.
As I’ve gotten older, Ramadan has honestly become super stressful because you have to balance school, activities, and sometimes athletics while fasting. Our schedules are really weird during Ramadan, so if you see someone fasting, please be kind to them.
In terms of the school itself, most staff have been really supportive, especially in terms of PE. This meant that I, for example, didn’t have to run the BUUM as I was fasting.
From sunrise to sunset, we don’t drink or eat anything, not even water. Most people start fasting between the ages of 7 and 10, and, because Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, it shifts 2 weeks earlier every year. When I was younger, I remember it being in summer, and it would be really hard to fast because the days were much longer. But now that it’s moving more towards early spring and late winter, it’s a little bit easier because the days are shorter.
Honestly, Ramadan is so interesting because when you remove food from your life, you end up getting a lot of free time. I enjoy using that time to just focus on other things, whether it’s my faith or my work.”
