Ayat’s Ramadan

My dad gave me a small lantern as a gift for the beginning of Ramadan. Everyone in Egypt loves Ramadan, whether they are Muslims or Christians. And they celebrate it every year. And I, being Egyptian, love Ramadan so much because this month is related in my opinion to joy and happiness and the gathering of family and friends. A few days before the beginning of Ramadan, my siblings and I made decorations to decorate our home as a kind of celebration of this wonderful month. We made the decorations out of paper, and we used scissors and glue. Cooperating with my siblings to make the decorations makes me closer to them every year. During Ramadan, we fast from dawn until sunset. In other words, we go all day without eating or drinking anything, but at night we eat and drink very normally. My first time fasting was when I was 7 years old. I was too little back then, and fasting was hard for me, so I only fasted until midday. When I got a little older and turned ten, I started to fast for a longer period of the day, but I couldn’t fast the entire day. Now I’m all grown up, and I can fast all day without any issue. There are two important meals at Ramadan. The first meal is “iftar”, which is directly after sunset, and the second meal is “suhoor“, and it’s one or two hours before dawn. Everyone in Egypt is committed to these two mealtimes, and because of this, at these times the streets are empty and shops are closed, and everyone is in their homes sitting with their families and friends. Among the things that are only found during Ramadan is the “musaharati”. The musaharati is someone who plays on a small drum while wondering the streets one or two hours before dawn to wake people up so they can eat for the last time before they start fasting. And he usually calls out or chants the names of the residents of the neighborhood. And at the end of Ramadan, he goes around to the houses in the neighborhood he worked in to collect some token money. Every Ramadan I wake up to musaharati’s voice for the suhoor meal. After what I have told [you], it’s surely now very clear how much  I love the month of Ramadan. Happy Ramadan to everyone!