1. Tea cake and hot custard for iftar.
2. Ramadan in Adelaide – I was alone for two Ramadans and it was very hard. Daylight savings meant that Isha was late. I really don’t know how Northern Hemisphereans do it when the days are already so long. Work was busy as usual and I lost so much weight that on Eid day my mother threatened to keep me here in Brisbane and not send me back to Adelaide. Husband’s first Tarawih in Adelaide was long and tiring. I think he came home after one in the morning. The next night, the Imam took a vote – 20 rakats or 8 rakats. No guessing what everyone chose. Husband of course had to come home and do the rest (Hanafis are big on the sunnah prayers, man.)
3. Samoosas and phirni – a Ramadan staple. LOVE them. I remember helping mum shape and fold the samoosas as a young ‘un. My sister and I had a separate plate where we would place all our attempts at the perfect triangle – they were most definitely not for guests.
4. The cold winters of my early Ramadans. The days were so much shorter and fasting was a breeze.
5. My first fast. I was about3 or 4 and I was stubborn. No matter how much my mother tried to stop me from fasting, I was adamant (I needed to everything my older sister did). I took one bite of my samoosa at iftar and vomited. I don’t remember much after that. It’s all a bit of blur.
6. Iftars at Holland Park Masjid. Boy, those were fun. The atmosphere, the chaos and the friends.
7. Sehri when I was younger. My mother would wake up long before any of us, she would cook eggs or fry pelone and when everything was ready and only then would she wake us all. She washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen while we prayed Qur’an and she was always the last to get to bed. She would also be the first to wake up for the day. I don’t know how she did it – day in day out for that month. May Allah reward her.
8. Laila tul Qadr (Night of Power) – I remember sitting up late into the night, praying extra nafl prayers in the lounge room with my mother and sisters. We’d occasionally take a break together and have a cold glass of water or soft drink before getting right back into it. My father wouldn’t return from the Masjid until long after fajr was over.
So what are some of your memories of Ramadan?
from when i just a kid, watching cartoons right after sehri until mom came in and shooed us out to read Quran
winter ramadans – of sehri eaten in socks and blankets and then climbing back into bed to wait for fajr adhan, dreading the moment when we had to get out to do wudhu
aloo ke pakodey for iftaar
and my favorite of the week before ramadan, folding samosas and spring rolls to be frozen and shami kebabs, shaping millions every night
sigh.
I’ve only been Muslim a little over 5 years so I really don’t have any memories worth mentioning. This year one of the women here decided to have a Samoosa making party. A few of us made a couple different fillings. We then all sat and made them while chatting. It was a nice afternoon. The hostess talked about making it a yearly event.
Ramadan in Pakistan, particularly at my grand-mother’s home was a delight. The hours of fasting would usually go by at ease, most of the time being spent at school & later, naps when we’d return home-or something or the other- time would pass. But Sehri & Iftars were a lot of fun… with my cousins and siblings, there was such festivity in the air that I cannot put my finger on what it really was; which brough us great moments of joy. It would be easier to pray with company- some times, somehow, we’d get into fits of laughter if we were praying together & then we’d say “tobah”… and fail at controlling ourselves again… and eventually, have to pray separately. Another incident that I can think of from the top of my head, is the time when I was telling my sister and cousin how to sip tea ‘gracefully’ (at sehri time)- and somehow ended up spilling it all over my clothes- of course, needless to say what followed
I used to love Ramadan and still do, but being away from family, seems to take away some delight of this special month… I am also reminded, a cousin and I would some days eat so much at iftari that our stomachs would hurt when we’d walk up the stairs- and we’d laugh and laugh at our state… I think all of what I am saying, is rather hard to explain
Thank you for the wonderful post, that had me indulge in some of the lovely moments of Ramadan days…. Ohhhh and then there was Eid too!
… I shouldn’t begin on it 
Praying hard every year not to have my period on Laila tul Qadr! I love praying all night. When my father was alive the odd nights were a festival in themselves.
These memories are all so beautiful
Thank you for sharing them 
Ya Haqq!
Hmm. your early Ramadan was a breeze .. Alhamdulillah, fortunate for you, yours was in the winter of southern hemisphere. Unfortunately for me, I remember my first ramadan as very very long and tiring as it was in the long hot summer in the northern hemisphere.
All in all, I love Ramadan.. whereever I am, London, Paris, M’sia, Oz.. able to break fast at the end of the day.. The feeling is unreal surreal.
I think this is my all time favourite Tasmiya post. So beautiful and warm. I don’t have many Ramadam memories yet. However, I am really fond of the stickiness and scent of fruit juices on my hands every afternoon just before Maghrib. It must be a universal thing for all the people who prepare fruit chaat for iftar.
Salaam –
What a beautiful, evocative and warm post!
As a child, Ramadan was always about spirituality, gratitude and loved ones gathering. It lost some of that sheen in my 20s but alhamdolillah I’m so glad it’s all come back the last two years.
Warmly,
Baraka