Celebrating Ramadan away from home

Festivals have always been a way for me to bond with family–a chance to feel how close the family is to each other despite disagreements. Ramadan is one of those festivals for me.

Even though it is assumed to be a strict month of religious practices by most people who don’t follow Islam, to me Ramadan is the month of coming together with my family. It is reaching out to friends you weren’t in touch with for a long time. It’s using the lazy times after Iftar, the fast-breaking evening meal, to make up after conflicts.

Ramadan is all of it for me. For me, religious duties are just an excuse. Ramadan gives me the time and reason to restrengthen the bonds I had and slow down from my busy life. Other than that, Ramadan also helps us understand the struggles of our neighbors in need. We Muslims and those with Muslim heritage celebrate during a certain month that follows the lunar calendar every year as per the scriptures. During the month of Ramadan, the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) started receiving the holy scripture, the Qur’an, from Allah. Because of this, the month of Ramadan in the Lunar Calendar is considered the holy month.

During Ramadan, Islamic scriptures order Muslims to abstain from food, drinks and other physical needs during the day. According to practicing Muslims, this gives them the opportunity to reflect on their actions of the previous year and connect on a deeper level with Allah.

One thing that practicing and non-practicing people who celebrate Ramadan agree on is food. Various dishes are an inseparable part of the celebration of Ramadan. In Bangladesh, my family had four regular dishes: batter-fried eggplant, onion and lentil balls, potato balls and halim, which is a dish made of lentils and meat for breaking the fast, on top of other dishes. We share the food by sending it to friends, neighbors and family members.

And we wait for Eid-ul-Fitr, the reward for the month-long self-control and submission to Allah. People rush home to spend the holidays with family. Some notable Eid-ul-Fitr dishes worldwide are dates, samosa, mandi, fattoush and many more. For my family, we have batter fried eggplant, lentils, onion balls and tehari (a dish made with rice and meat). We also pray to Allah on the morning of Eid-ul-Fitr showing gratitude for the blessings of life.

When celebrating festivals like Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr away from home, I realized how I took them for granted. It showed me how people around the world, despite distance and cultural differences, share the same emotions and feelings when celebrating their festivals. From coming together with families for Thanksgiving to gift-giving on Christmas, I felt the warmth of family just like I do back in Bangladesh when celebrating Eid. This realization that we as humans look forward to the same things and share the same feelings when it comes to our loved ones will be the biggest lesson learned from my Ramadan away from home.