ramadan comes to an end

an impromptu holy place complete with streets carpeted with silk and polyester prints.

overflow seating down one of the alleyways off the main road.

so, ramadan officially ended today about 10am. as you can imagine i rushed over and pigged out as soon as possible. right.

this morning i wandered over to the grand mosque in the center of town to catch the scene. we had been told that at least 100k men would be there, so i was prepared for the throngs of white hats, but it still was remarkable to see. when i arrived at 8am the entire block was cordoned off--in china a block is at least a kilometer long--so needless to say there were lots of people. by 9am the entire street was full; it was a though the men had decided to carpet the entire street. prayer mats covered nearly every square foot of the road. about the time the call went out over the loud speakers we decided to find an areal view. around one corner, and then another, and then up and down several flights of stairs, but to no avail. finally, as we were giving up, a young man stuck his head out of the door and invited us in to view from his 5th floor window. what a nice gesture, as 10 minutes later he scrambled off to join the prayers, leaving us with his mother and wife. while we watched, the two women rushed to complete the after ramadan feast. as i hung my head out of the window the aroma of mutton began to rise like a fog. you see, anyone with the means breaks ramadan with a proper mutton extravaganza.

the scene down below resembled that in any number of temples, etc. around the world. men conducting work while awaiting the next time to bow, cell phones erupting with hindi pop tunes and the backstreet boys greatest hits, kids playing and then being rebuked for not paying attention, only for the father to go immediately back to a hushed conversation. it's seems everyone is bored if the heart is not engaged. i remember many an episode playing out the same in my childhood. i am not sure why this scene struck me as so familiar despite its literal remoteness. i suppose it is that i see the same thing in the states every easter and christmas. we are not so dissimilar in the end, are we?