Eid Mubarak

Eid Al Fitr was announced today. This marks the end of the Holy month of Ramadan. Our 30 (actually it was 29 this year) days of fasting have come to an end and with that we begin 3 days of celebration (and eating during the day)!!!

The UAE follows Saudi's lead on when Ramadan begins and ends by the sighting of the moon. More specifically the Hilal (moon crescent)



The hilal marks both the beginning and the end of Ramadan and must be seen with the eye by a sheikh before the actual date will be announced. Therefor you will find that different countries begin and end their Ramadan's a day apart (i.e. Libya started Ramadan a day before UAE this year) and you never know the actual dates until the eve before.

Saudi tends to announce Eid after 30 days of fasting. So we were waiting on pins and needles to see if Eid al Fitr would be tomorrow or on Wednesday (day 30-when most thought it would fall) and surprise surprise it's tomorrow!!! After only 29 days! Yippy!! There are fireworks going on outside and a general sense of happiness and celebration.

It really is fabulous to be here in this country during Eid.


p.s. photo from this site

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Duck update: We won. Yup we won again!!!! we are now 4-1 after beating WSU which leaves us ranked as 23 --- well actually that's not great but, you know, the season has just started so we'll get there!