Bonne Fete de Ramadan!

Happy Ramadan to all the Muslims!

So yesterday was Ramadan...or maybe it's today...who knows!  But I can tell you this, between yesterday and tomorrow, Ramadan is being celebrated somewhere in the world.  Allow me to explain how things go here.  Ramadan is a Muslim holiday celebrated at the end of a long fast.  The fast usually lasts about a month.  From what I understand Muslims reflect do their best to improve.  It seems to be like a time for re-purification and they try to avoid doing bad habits, I guess kinda like lent season for Christians.  Keep in mind I am informing you based on what people here in Burkina have told me.  So don't forget this may be there own individual interpretation of the holiday and what it means to them.  

I believe Muslim holidays are based on a lunar calendar, meaning that the dates change according to the moon, so like Easter in the Christian faith, the date changes every year.  What I do find interesting here is that no one ever knows when exactly they will celebrate. Yikes!  As you all know, I am in training right now and they have obviously made a schedule of things and activities I do on a daily basis.  Since I have been here for the past 9 days, people kept telling me, "Ramadan will come one day next week.  I am not sure which day, maybe Tuesday  or Wednesday, but that day you will have off."  Yeah, I know, confusing...well it turns out it ended up being Tuesday.  What happens is (all based on what I have gathered through my own personal interpretations) the Imam determines if the fast is broken based on if he can see the moon or not.  Here in Burkina, there have been times when Imam in the south saw the moon, but maybe not in the north and so as you can imagine, one part of the country celebrated and broke their fast, while the other did not.  Quite interesting.

Since I am talking about Muslim holidays, I might as well give you some insight on religion in Burkina Faso.  There are 3 major religions in Burkina: Muslim, Christianity (Catholic and Protestant), and Animism.  I would guess that Muslims make up about 61%, Christians 23% (most are catholic), and 15% practice only traditional religions, called Animism, but a portion of Muslims and Christians here also practice in some fashion Animism, as it is so very connected to their traditional culture.  The most interesting part about religion in Burkina is that it seems to be religiously free.  During religious holidays, people share with persons in their community that are not of the same religion.  For example, during Ramadan, Muslims here make a big feast and they eat with their families and friends, but also make food for the Christians they know as well.  Often times they invite them over or take food by their houses because its a big feast and since its not a Christian holiday that day, they want to make sure that their Christian friends also get to take part in food, folks, and fun!  I recall when I was here the first time and 4 men came back to village from their hadj (holy voyage) to Mecca and the entire village celebrated, including Christians and Muslims, because they were so excited for and respected the hard work it took to make such a voyage.  On Christmas, Easter, Tabaski, and on and on, everyone is celebrating in some way by taking part in and sharing an important holiday for others.  The Christians don't usually go to the mosque to pray with the Muslims, and the Muslims don't usually go to church and pray with the Christians, but there is truly a level of respect for and sharing in each other's holidays.

So me being a Christian (this might be confusing for some because my name is Aisha, which is the name of the most beloved wife of the prophet Mohammed.  But my parents choose my name from an African naming book and it is Arabic and means the beauty of life.), I was invited to eat at a friend's house for Ramadan.  Obviously since its a holiday there was lots of food, but on top of that it was after a looong fast, so I felt like the food would not stop coming!  Food was great and I thoroughly enjoyed my day off from training and most importantly sharing time with Mariam and her family :-).  Thanks for the invitation...Happy Ramadan everyone!

These opinions are my own and do not reflect that of the Peace Corps, UNICEF, or any other organization to which I am affiliated.