So I canned the post its to answer some questions I got from an anonymous blogger. I'll keep the answers related to Ramadan in keeping with the theme of the month.
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| Arabic tea & dates |
Ramadan is a special season in Qatar and I am sure no less different in any other middle eastern country. Henna, dates, arabic coffee, late evenings, shopping and futoor get togethers seem to be key words of the season as the city becomes awake by night and asleep during the day. The supermarkets operate longer hours, corporate hours are cut to 6 hours a day (average), restaurants/take aways are closed during the day and open just before ifthar until late, hotels and some restaurants offer well spread buffets for Suhoor and Futoor which is a big hit, other shops will also change their time to operate minimally during the day and more in the evening.
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| The Famous Souq Waqif offers evening enterntainment, shopping & many seesha and eating places |
The Souqs are a popular choice in the evenings for meeting friends & family to do shopping or just sit around chatting over some Arabic coffee and seesha. Many of the locals also will host their friends or family members in their Majlis (which is a sitting place that is a seperate room in the house. You can have mixed or separated gender majlis'es - it all depends on the family or the event).
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| An example of a Majlis |
Ifthar at home (if you with family) is a big celebration and sometimes even friends are invited to share in. A huge circular layout on the floor with traditional arabic cuisine is spent in lively conversation and sharing. And there is no skipping dessert - arabic desserts are just yummy.
There are also special arabic shows broadcast on TV ranging from comedy to animation.
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| Performing Mag7rib Salaat at one of the Ramadan Tents |
Masjids offer an 8 rakaat or 20 rakaat Taraweeh that can be heard over speaker (like all other salaat). The 8 rakaat Taraweeh seems to be more popular and most masjids are filled up for the nightly taraweeh.
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| A Qtel (Qatar Telecoms) convoy of 20 specially-converted Land Cruisers will travel across Qatar during the holy month of Ramadan, bringing help to needy families |
Some of the companies and charity organisations in conjunction on their own, will set up Ramadan tents to provide ifthar hampers to the poor and needy communities. Qatar Charity has announced it will be spending QR10 million on Ramadan programmes which include ifthar tents for bachelors and poor expatriate communities as well as the distribution of water and dates in traffic at ifthar time. The latter to make sure that everyone breaks their fast on time. Some Ramadan tents are offered by hotels to the public as a pay service to dine for futoor and Suhoor (as featured in the picture "Performing Mag7rib Salaat at one of the Ramadan Tents")
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All in all, Ramadan is celebrated in true festive fashion here in Qatar, leaving you feeling like you have really experienced Ramadan. There is no stone left unturned either, with everyone joining hands to help the less fortunate - it leaves you feeling like you accomplished something and hoping the momentum would last longer. To end Ramadan, the country will announce a 3-5 day public holiday for the celebration of Eid. This is practiced in most of the gulf countries, if not all. |
Note: All images have been sourced from Google
