Why I'm observing Ramadan tomorrow
Warning: this post will have religious themes to it. I am not putting it behind a cut. If this isn't your thing, please scroll.
I don't fast. That is probably what I should start with. The last time I went without food for a given length of time (on purpose… it's one thing to just not eat because of depression, another thing entirely to go without food for a reason) I was doing the 40 hour famine in high school, in which you are still allowed water and barley sugar and I think maybe juice?
I should also add that I don't really "do" Lent. I come from a protestant tradition where, by and large, the tradition of giving something up for Lent isn't observed (we had a cafe church for the first Sunday in Lent this year (my father was on leave), in which we focused on the meaning of Lent and why people give things up, and the people from the retirement village next to the church REALLY didn't get it). I have been known to give things up (in the height of my addiction to farming games on Facebook, I gave up all in-browser games -- which was effectively all computer games for me), but usually I get a spreadsheet together and record every caffeinated (or just hot) drink I consume over Lent, and have a scale of monetary value attached to each drink ($1.50 for a coffee I brew at home, $4 for a coffee I buy, $1.50 for a black tea, etc), and at the end of Lent I donate an amount to the Share Lenten Appeal. (last Lent, it was $300).
But when I saw
settiai's signal boost of grav_ity's post about irony_rocks and the fact that she can't do Ramadan this year, and asking people to take a day to fast for her, I knew it was something I needed to do. I believe in God calling you to do something, and that is what I felt when I read the request (people, I did give a warning at the top of this post).
The first thing I did, after saying I would take Saturday (tomorrow, Australian time), was start my research. Again, I come from a Christian tradition, and I know that we Christians tend to appropriate things from other traditions -- and yes, it is still happening. Please see having a Passover Seder on Maundy Thursday for reference.
So I'm trying to observe Ramadan and the proper traditions, without feeling like I'm appropriating too much. I'm not sure I've succeeded, but I'm trying to also keep in mind that this is something of major religious significance, something that I am doing for someone who takes it very seriously, that I am trying to keep irony_rocks's traditions/instructions, and that I am a tourist.
My plans for my fast tomorrow are to wake up with a cooked breakfast before the dawn. I've double-checked that what I'm having should be halal (and in doing so, realised I've tried to feed Muslims things with vanilla extract in them and whoops. That explains why they just took the food and didn't eat it in front of me. Definitely something I didn't think about), since I'm going to a 60th birthday in the evening and, not only will the meat not be halal, there will be alcohol involved (I refused a glass of wine last night instead? And I think tonight's meal is halal? Sorry, irony_rocks).
I've also recorded the prayer times for tomorrow in Melbourne. I'm not going to recite the Quran, but I have some Psalms to read (although the 6am prayer will probably be more of a groggy just-woke-up "God grant me the strength to not feel hungry"). I'm only fasting between 7.34am and 5.18pm (winter in the southern hemisphere -- I'm slightly east of Melbourne proper, so I'll probably aim to make sure I've finished brushing my teeth etc by 7.30am at the very latest)*, so my main enemy is going to be the "bored eating" trap I fall into. I've got a copy of Holy Misogyny by April D. DeConick to read as something non-secular, but if that turns out to be something I need a knife and fork to get through (usually I mean that literally... eating helps me concentrate) I'll probably fall back and read some Rachel Held Evans instead.
Ramadan Mubarak!
* I was reading some debate on Dominick Knight's twitter about the correct starting time, but irony_rocks said to go by the official sunrise/sunset times, which is much easier than 4.40am or 6am!
This entry was originally posted at http://purple-smurf.dreamwidth.org/504295.html
I don't fast. That is probably what I should start with. The last time I went without food for a given length of time (on purpose… it's one thing to just not eat because of depression, another thing entirely to go without food for a reason) I was doing the 40 hour famine in high school, in which you are still allowed water and barley sugar and I think maybe juice?
I should also add that I don't really "do" Lent. I come from a protestant tradition where, by and large, the tradition of giving something up for Lent isn't observed (we had a cafe church for the first Sunday in Lent this year (my father was on leave), in which we focused on the meaning of Lent and why people give things up, and the people from the retirement village next to the church REALLY didn't get it). I have been known to give things up (in the height of my addiction to farming games on Facebook, I gave up all in-browser games -- which was effectively all computer games for me), but usually I get a spreadsheet together and record every caffeinated (or just hot) drink I consume over Lent, and have a scale of monetary value attached to each drink ($1.50 for a coffee I brew at home, $4 for a coffee I buy, $1.50 for a black tea, etc), and at the end of Lent I donate an amount to the Share Lenten Appeal. (last Lent, it was $300).
But when I saw
settiai's signal boost of grav_ity's post about irony_rocks and the fact that she can't do Ramadan this year, and asking people to take a day to fast for her, I knew it was something I needed to do. I believe in God calling you to do something, and that is what I felt when I read the request (people, I did give a warning at the top of this post).
The first thing I did, after saying I would take Saturday (tomorrow, Australian time), was start my research. Again, I come from a Christian tradition, and I know that we Christians tend to appropriate things from other traditions -- and yes, it is still happening. Please see having a Passover Seder on Maundy Thursday for reference.
So I'm trying to observe Ramadan and the proper traditions, without feeling like I'm appropriating too much. I'm not sure I've succeeded, but I'm trying to also keep in mind that this is something of major religious significance, something that I am doing for someone who takes it very seriously, that I am trying to keep irony_rocks's traditions/instructions, and that I am a tourist.
My plans for my fast tomorrow are to wake up with a cooked breakfast before the dawn. I've double-checked that what I'm having should be halal (and in doing so, realised I've tried to feed Muslims things with vanilla extract in them and whoops. That explains why they just took the food and didn't eat it in front of me. Definitely something I didn't think about), since I'm going to a 60th birthday in the evening and, not only will the meat not be halal, there will be alcohol involved (I refused a glass of wine last night instead? And I think tonight's meal is halal? Sorry, irony_rocks).
I've also recorded the prayer times for tomorrow in Melbourne. I'm not going to recite the Quran, but I have some Psalms to read (although the 6am prayer will probably be more of a groggy just-woke-up "God grant me the strength to not feel hungry"). I'm only fasting between 7.34am and 5.18pm (winter in the southern hemisphere -- I'm slightly east of Melbourne proper, so I'll probably aim to make sure I've finished brushing my teeth etc by 7.30am at the very latest)*, so my main enemy is going to be the "bored eating" trap I fall into. I've got a copy of Holy Misogyny by April D. DeConick to read as something non-secular, but if that turns out to be something I need a knife and fork to get through (usually I mean that literally... eating helps me concentrate) I'll probably fall back and read some Rachel Held Evans instead.
Ramadan Mubarak!
* I was reading some debate on Dominick Knight's twitter about the correct starting time, but irony_rocks said to go by the official sunrise/sunset times, which is much easier than 4.40am or 6am!
This entry was originally posted at http://purple-smurf.dreamwidth.org/504295.html