This month is a month of fasting in our country and in many others around the world. From sunrise until sunset each day people do not eat or drink. At 5:30 pm every night the fast is broken by eating dates and drinking lots of water. After eating, people will go to prayer and then return home to eat a big feast with their families.
On Friday night we took a field trip to a new part of town to watch people break the fast. This part of town was quite different from where we live, so we had to dress appropriately. For Courtney this meant wearing a long shirt with a head covering.
It was definitely an interesting experience; we got a lot of stares and yells. The place we went to contains the grave of one of the seven men who brought Islam to The Islands. This handsome fellow is Sunan Ampel. The area of town is named for him and many people go there every year to pray at his grave.
This next picture is for my mom, in remembrance of last year when we went to Jekyll Island and spent the better part of the week looking for the Jekyll Island lighthouse only to find out there is no Jekyll Island lighthouse.
I found the lighthouse! Right here in my new city! Actually that is the miniarette (tower) that is used to call everyone to prayer, but we all thought it looked like a lighthouse.
We survived our trip and actually learned quite a bit about that area of town. To see more pictures click here.
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