The Feast of Fast Breaking – PICKLES & PASSIONFRUIT

I had just dropped Scott off for his shuttle ride to the airport. He was headed to Fuzhou, China for a week of work.

It was a beautiful morning in Taichung. No AC needed, windows rolled down in our sweet sweet mini van. The Eurythmics jamming on the mixed CD Michael keeps in the car (more on him later). Not ready to head home, I cruised around the city looking for adventure. I found this colorful celebration in the street, parked the car and scurried back on foot to see what all the excitement was about.

Id-al-Fitr!

Say: eed ul fit-ur. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month.

It’s a joyous day for Muslims

Need a Ramadan 101 lesson? Don’t worry, I did too.

During the month long Fast of Ramadan strict restraints are placed on the daily lives of Muslims. They are not allowed to eat or drink during the daylight hours. When the month long fast ends it is celebrated as a “holiday” called Id-al-Fitr (the Feast of Fast Breaking), the Festival of Breaking the Fast. Friends and family gather to pray in congregation. It’s a joyous day for Muslims.

I strolled around, taking it all in, wondering how I missed this in my 4+ decades in the U.S.

These women and I were taking refuge in the shade and asked if they could take selfies with me. Me? An American. I felt honored. We had quite a bit of fun giggling over the photos.

Greeted with smiles

As I walked through the crowd, I was greeted with smiles and nods. Several people came up to talk to me, some to simple say hello. What impressed my American brain was the peacefulness. I do believe the temperament and energy would have been different in the USA. Here, no one yelled racial slurs, no police required to “keep the peace” and no protesters. It truly was a joyous day, as it was meant to be.

This is tolerance & acceptance

Taiwan’s president is Ms. Tsai. This was printed in the local newspaper the following day. Take the time to read this beautiful mindset, as it’s one you’re likely not to be exposed to in the U.S.

From the U.S. Associated Press

White House does not plan Ramadan event

Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Let us all take the opportunity to practice tolerance. With love and peace,

Passionfruit

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One thought on “The Feast of Fast Breaking”

Wonderful excursion you had. Yes, our president said and did NOTHING on Eid.
Shameful, shameful. Probably tweeting about some newscasters face-lift!!! I think moderate Christian believers subscribe to the historicity of the Bible. In other words that the words are not direct quotations of God. The New Testament reflects thoughts of disciples/believers… often descrbing events that happened years and years previously and from various observation points. The New Testament also chronicles Paul’s sojourn of preaching and his thoughts. Most people I know– and prepaid you know, do not think of this type of transcription as “the words of God”.
They may understand the words as being on the inspiration of Jesus and thus God, but not the actual “words” of God. Unitarians view Jesus as an inspired human being. Like Siddhatha, Buddha, Mohammad, Ghandi. Steve Jobs….
Apparently what we call Fundamentalists in the USA think the Bible is composed of the actual words of God and also do not seem to understand that Jesus himself was initially Jewish and was raised in that tradition until he was inspired to see a ” new way”. And also there have been so many translations– who’s to say??
Sad to say that relatives of my kind near neighbors who dropped in about totally different things– builders and plumbers-the man started to say- appropo of nothing–that all muslims want to take us over– all of them… that they teach their kids that.” I really had to be firm with him and say that I worked with Muslims, taught Muslim children and know Muslim families and I know that Muslims certainly want what we all want: peace, family unity, good will, the creation of a civilized educational & cultural atmosphere. Nope, he was not buying that. Although he has never met a Muslim, he knows that they all want to get us somehow and that they are taught this as children. I told him he must be thinking of some sort of far far extremist groups. We are talking about ordinary, go to work, have a family people who just aspire to what all of us want: peace. I tried another approach with him: In fact some might say that our Amish neighbors are extremists! Extremists exist in every kind of religion and political group– even then few are violent to others and very few actively plot to kill us. Nope, he seemed skeptical about that. Soon I had to slide off the subject..and get back to insulation and plumbing. I was becoming too provoked by his talk- radio ignorance, though I did not want to offend him as he is related to people I really like! And basically, he is a person who wants to care and help people. Yeah, he’s actually very kindhearted. Go figure. I guess xenophobia creeps in while you are sleeping. I hope he reflects on what I said and moderates some. I believe he is so used to people ageeing with him that he even brought the subject up the same as he would comment on ” how are your tomatoes growing?” Despite this particular person, I do believe there are many kind, generous people out here that do not feel this way about others. I think some of them are scared of outsiders, but they are not hateful.

kathleen says:

July 9, 2017 at 2:22 pm

Wonderful excursion you had. Yes, our president said and did NOTHING on Eid.
Shameful, shameful. Probably tweeting about some newscasters face-lift!!! I think moderate Christian believers subscribe to the historicity of the Bible. In other words that the words are not direct quotations of God. The New Testament reflects thoughts of disciples/believers… often descrbing events that happened years and years previously and from various observation points. The New Testament also chronicles Paul’s sojourn of preaching and his thoughts. Most people I know– and prepaid you know, do not think of this type of transcription as “the words of God”.
They may understand the words as being on the inspiration of Jesus and thus God, but not the actual “words” of God. Unitarians view Jesus as an inspired human being. Like Siddhatha, Buddha, Mohammad, Ghandi. Steve Jobs….
Apparently what we call Fundamentalists in the USA think the Bible is composed of the actual words of God and also do not seem to understand that Jesus himself was initially Jewish and was raised in that tradition until he was inspired to see a ” new way”. And also there have been so many translations– who’s to say??
Sad to say that relatives of my kind near neighbors who dropped in about totally different things– builders and plumbers-the man started to say- appropo of nothing–that all muslims want to take us over– all of them… that they teach their kids that.” I really had to be firm with him and say that I worked with Muslims, taught Muslim children and know Muslim families and I know that Muslims certainly want what we all want: peace, family unity, good will, the creation of a civilized educational & cultural atmosphere. Nope, he was not buying that. Although he has never met a Muslim, he knows that they all want to get us somehow and that they are taught this as children. I told him he must be thinking of some sort of far far extremist groups. We are talking about ordinary, go to work, have a family people who just aspire to what all of us want: peace. I tried another approach with him: In fact some might say that our Amish neighbors are extremists! Extremists exist in every kind of religion and political group– even then few are violent to others and very few actively plot to kill us. Nope, he seemed skeptical about that. Soon I had to slide off the subject..and get back to insulation and plumbing. I was becoming too provoked by his talk- radio ignorance, though I did not want to offend him as he is related to people I really like! And basically, he is a person who wants to care and help people. Yeah, he’s actually very kindhearted. Go figure. I guess xenophobia creeps in while you are sleeping. I hope he reflects on what I said and moderates some. I believe he is so used to people ageeing with him that he even brought the subject up the same as he would comment on ” how are your tomatoes growing?” Despite this particular person, I do believe there are many kind, generous people out here that do not feel this way about others. I think some of them are scared of outsiders, but they are not hateful.