Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), Each year, Syrians welcome the month of Ramadan with festive habits and traditions, some of which were handed down from their fathers and grandfathers, while others were brought on by social and technological development.
The various traditions of Ramadan are untied by their spirituality and consecration of the values of goodness, compassion, cooperation among people, and communication and amity among relatives, neighbors and friends.
The first of these habits and traditions begins two days before the beginning of Ramadan with the customary Ramadan greetings that are relayed directly or through modern technology such as telephones, mobile phones, SMS, emails and even Ramadan-specific e-cards.
In Ramadan, the Syrian society turns into one big family that follows the same traditions in having two meals a day, Iftar (breakfast meal) and Suhur meal (predawn meal) in addition to practicing religious rites. People go to work and return home to gather around the Iftar table.
Ramadan in Syria, the cradle of holy religions and civilizations, reflects the tolerance and fraternity among its multicultural inhabitants. Christians exchange invitations with Muslims to share the Iftar meal.
Father George Jbeil of the Roman Catholic al-Zaytoun Church told SANA that the church always holds an Iftar to celebrate Ramadan with Muslims in an expression of mutual love and solidarity.
He added "we live in the homeland of peace and love. We share a spiritual relationship which is our relationship with God. We all worship God but each of us in their own way."
In such a cohesive society as the Syrian society, activities of charity associations and NGOs flourish in this month in an attempt to help poor families through organizing charity Iftar meals.
One of the inherited traditions is sharing dishes with neighbors. Housewife Oum Zaher said "I feel happy when I do so, especially when I know that my neighbor liked the dish I cooked. We inherit this from our mothers and grandmothers. It is something we like to preserve even in modern multistory buildings."
"We don't just serve a daily meal to families in need… we actually provide them with different sorts of food for the whole holy month as part of Ramadan's rituals," she added.
We can't imagine Ramadan in Syria without talking about the Syrian television series which range from biographic, comedic, social, historic and contemporary drama series that enter each and every Arab home.
Damascene hawakati (traditional storyteller) Rashid al-Hallaq, known to most as Abu Shadi, still visits al-Nofara Café, a traditional café in the Old City, to narrate timeless traditional epics of heroes like al-Zir Salem and al-Zaher Baibars.
Abu Shadi, who has been a mainstay of the café for more than twenty years, continues to regale the visitors' with the stories of great warriors every day throughout Ramadan.
As part of Ramadan's traditions, families exchange invitations for Iftar meals presenting various dishes of the Syrian cuisine, including traditional food exclusively served in Ramadan. These visits help keep family ties strong and are a reason for expatriates to spend Ramadan in Syria.
source : http://abna.ir/
