Ramadan Things

 There were a lot of special circumstances and experiences because it was Ramadan. We landed the day before Ramadan, when the start was announced by cannon.

Some of our group members hadn't heard about the cannon announcement and had been terrified that there was a bombing.

We had our predawn meals in the hotel. I usually ate a cold meal that I'd bought the day before in my room so I didn't have to go down to the dining hall. Then we'd walk to the mosque for morning prayers. It was the quietest and the least crowded at this time.

Adhan. Thank goodness, I never chose to get into cinematics. 

There were a ton of lights and decoration.

You can see more lights here, the night I guided the Scots to the kabob stall. This is right outside Damascus Gate.

After the Ramadan taraweeh prayers were done, the streets would be flooded with people buying sweets, coffee, drinks, and snacks. There weren't too many full meals to be found at this time, except for the sandwich stalls: falafel, shawarma, kabobs.

This falafel stall is prepping before the break of the fast. I was trying to ask them something but I think they're arguing about something. Arguing about chicken if I'm understanding correctly.

I grabbed a mint lemonade from this guy one night. I asked him what the word he was saying meant. "Tabee'i". He and his friends disagreed about what it meant. "Organic," said one. "Fresh" said the other. "Natural" said a third. You get the gist.

Fried potatoes were big after taraweeh snacks. Also steamed corn. And Nutella crepes and waffles.

Candy everywhere. Get gloves and pick your own selection at 25 shekels a kilo. (If they peg that you're a foreigner, they will charge anywhere from 30 to an outrageous 50 shekels a kilo.)

 

Most of all baklava, kunafeh, and hareesa. I tried to get kunafeh every night, but it ran out every time. I snagged the last piece on the very last night, got it packed and brought it home to share with my family. The kid wrapping it for me thought I was nuts, because desserts like that are to be eaten steaming fresh, standing on the street with a fork right out of the packaging. 

This guy was making individual kunafehs to order. The line was ridiculous and I decided to pass that night when it sounded like a fight was breaking out nearby.

Besides food, there is so a lot of singing and music. This was happening all over. There was a kids troupe one night.

This is how packed it got the first Friday prayer. Normally only 3 gates are allowed to be open in the Aqsa compound, but for Ramadan, 7 are open to accommodate the crowds. Most of these people spent upwards four hours to a day getting through checkpoints to get there and they'd stay the whole day to make it worth their while. It would take them just as long to go back and so the imam would combine the day prayers together for the sake of the travellers.

That's the Ramadan post. I wish I could have shown you the taraweeh prayers in the Dome of the Rock but I couldn't record while praying. Between the two units of prayer, the entire crowd would collectively recite the durood and that was something I never experienced in the US. It would raise goosebumps for me. 

The most dramatic inhabitants of the Dome of the Rock was the cat couple that lived there. The orange male and the pregnant grey female would manage to get separated every prayer and then proceed to hysterically meltdown.

“Babe! Babe! Oh my god, babe where are you?”

“Darling, oh darling how ever will we find each other again?”

"Allahu akbar!"

Yeah, it was something else.