Few simple things you (perhaps) never dared to ask about Ramadan

Which I think I have gathered from my conversations with people. Perhaps it is fascinating that they might be wrong, eheh. Most of the religious words come from Arabic, of course. And Ramadan is the name of a month. Months follow the lunar calendar. In Indonesia, bulan means both moon and month.

During Ramadan people fast (it is called “Puasa”), from about 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. They abstain from eating, drinking, having sexual or angry feelings. The still pray five times a day. They wake up around 3 a.m. to have a hearty meal. Of course, when you do physical labor, fasting is particularly demanding. Apparently, in that case people are allowed to break the fasting. But then you have to make it up some time before the following year. Same for pregnant or breastfeeding women. The assistants in the forest are impressive, they keep running after the siamangs, seemingly not affected by it. I tried, loosely, and while it is fine until around 2 p.m., after that you really have to struggle a bit. And strangely enough, eheh, you even have to work on the mood aspect, you get quite nervous!

But then, of course, it is great to break the fasting (buka puasa). A special drink is prepared, very rich and sweet, every day slightly different, made of bananas, cassava, coconut milk and pulp, and many other things I don’t know. People gather in the common area and start inquiring about the time, one of the leaders would check and communicate. They all hold one glass of the special drink and one of water. And the attitude, composure of the drinking is special, intense. Rahman doesn’t sit, stands looking at the river, takes the first sip of water, rolls it around the mouth and spits it quietly. Then, slowly, the chatting and laughing starts.