Ramadan in Morocco

I've decided to write some stuff about Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, for all those interested in learning about it, as there's more to Islam than we hear in the media. The post below this one is about my actual travels. Anyway, Mylene and I arrived in Morocco during Ramadan, which we didn't know was occurring until we arrived. It goes for 30 days and Muslims aren't allowed to eat, drink, smoke or have sex until after sunset, in order to teach them about patience and humility. The crazy thing is is that it's in the middle of summer, and sometimes it was between 40 and 50 degrees during the day, and they aren't allowed to even drink water. 

So, a typical day during Ramadan. Well, the sun rises at around 5am, and some will say a prayer and go to mosque, yet most people I was hanging around with said they prefer to wake up as late as possible, because they can't eat/drink water until 7:20pm. There are five prayer times throughout the day.

If you're not a student, and you have to work during the day, you'll have to wake early, and work all day without food/water. I attempted to last the whole day without eating food, yet I could only do it until about 4 in the afternoon. At 7:20pm, 'breakfast' is served (as it's the first meal they eat) and it was generally vegetable soup with bread and certain other snacks and fruit. Prayer comes after this. Lunch is eaten at around 10 or 11pm, which is usually tajine or something else with meat in it, and then some will sleep and wake up before sunrise to eat again. This is followed for the whole month. If you're not Muslim, it's considered a bit rude if you eat/drink during the day time in front of Muslims.

This guy was bathing in some type of water flowing thing on the side of the road, as they're not allowed to drink water. I even saw some Muslims pouring some freezing cold water in to their mouths, yet spitting it out after. This was in the desert, and it was about 45 degrees.

During Ramadan, Muslims are required to pray more often than usual. This photo was taken just on the side of the road, where 20 or so cars had pulled over so they could pray.