LifeInContrast.com

It’s a little after 2am on Friday night, and every mosque in the city is still going at full volume. The mosques began their vigil at around 6pm and have been loudly broadcasting prayers ever since. I’m told they will continue non-stop through the night until the morning. It is an amazing symphony of thousands of human voices - I’ve never heard anything like it. In the streets are pickup trucks with people banging drums and singing, and others are blowing big horns on the sidewalks. Fireworks - big flashy rockets - have been exploding over our valley all day, but mercifully have stopped now.

Today is the last day of Ramadhan, and tomorrow marks the beginning of Idul Fitri (or Lebaran), the end of fasting. Wikipedia says that Lebaran “is a day of forgiveness, moral victory, peace of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity. Muslims celebrate not only the end of fasting, but also thank God for the help and strength that they believe he gave them throughout the previous month to help them practice self-control.” Specifically, Indonesian Muslims “greet one another with ‘Mohon maaf lahir dan batin’ which means ‘Forgive my physical and emotional (wrongdoings)’, due to the fact that Eid ul-Fitr is not only for celebrations, but also the time for Muslims to cleanse their sins and strengthen their silaturrahim with relatives and friends.”

Soon, food will once again be readily available during the daylight hours, I won’t have to be careful about eating or drinking in public, pool halls and bars will re-open, and my students and co-workers will have more energy. Ramadhan has been an eye-opening experience, but I am looking forward to life returning to normal.