Ramadan

We're now about a third of the way through Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.  I live right across from a new mosque, and the calls to prayer have been particularly creative since Ramadan began.  You can definitely tell that the caller (who often sings now) is trying to outdo the other callers in the area.  Here's the mosque:

One aspect of Ramadan is giving alms to the poor.  The street outside my house has been full of beggars since I got here, but particularly so since Ramadan began.  Friday (the holy day), for the first time, they actually posted a policeman to keep everyone at the end of the street and away from the Mosque.  Cars and rickshaws would slow as they left and hand out food to the beggars.  This worked well until one woman broke from the crowd and raced for the mosque.  The others soon followed and the policeman gave up and went home.

Muslims are supposed to fast from dawn to dusk every day during Ramadan.  After the dusk call to prayers, people go to Iftar dinners to break the fast with friends.  A group of us were invited to an Iftar last Friday.  The food was great - figs and dates, fresh vegetables and different fried appetizers, followed by lamb and rice, fried eggplant, more cooked vegetables and two amazing desserts.  It was way too much food and I can't imagine eating it every day on an empty stomach.  I've been invited to another Iftar in two weeks and will definitely go.