Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Neighborhood Report - Welcoming Ramadan

If there's one thing I learned from having my own blog is how difficult it is to consistently write. I planned to write a minimum of 1 posting a day when I started, and lo behold, my laziness got me to post just 1 post a month. Hats off to those bloggers who could manage to do several postings in a day. They must have some secret prioritizing system to be able to post AND make the posts interesting to read.

This month is a Ramadan month for moslems all over the world. Ramadan is a time when moslems fast by not eating and drinking from dawn to dusk. However, Ramadan is not only about abstaining from food and drink, it is also the time to bring ourselves closer to God in our attempt to purify our soul, to clean up our act, thoughts and feelings from negativity. For me, Ramadan is the time to put God back into focus in my life because honestly, when there are so many things going on in my life, I usually ended up putting worshiping God last on my priority list. This Ramadan, I also plan to practice patience and to be really watchful of the way I feel and think on stuff in my life.

However, this post is not about my life attempt at being a better moslem, but about the celebration welcoming Ramadan. It was on Sunday, August 30th, one day before fasting began, in the middle of hot afternoon, I heard a loud banging and traditional music outside the door. Quickly my daughter and I went outside and watched in amazement kindergarten kids from the neighborhood marching down the street. It was a fantastic and colorful sight! The children were wearing moslem costums and they carried board saying "Marhaban ya Ramadan" (Welcome Ramadan) and there was a pair of 2.5m tall Ondel-ondel wearing moslem customs at the end of the march. All in all, watching the march made me all the more excited to welcome Ramadan.

See the pictures from the march :





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