Ramadan

I met up with my friend Terry at Pizza Allnite for dinner last night, I thought Terry would like a chance to try some good food from Afghanistan and connect with one of the local people from Kabul.   What Terry noted in his conversation with the owner is that it was Ramadan.  During Ramadan you can not eat or drink anything during daylight hours and this obviously is not easy when you run a restaurant.

This year Ramadan is from August 11th to September 9th, next year it will be August 1st to the 29th.  Ramadan shifts in the calendar each year and is moving closer and closer to the longest day of the year for the northern hemisphere, in 2015 the summer solstice will be during Ramadan.

In the middle east the length of the day is moderately consistent all year long, as short as ten hours to as long as 14 hours depending on where you are.   In Victoria at the moment we have 14 and half hours of daylight.   Our longest day is 16 hours and 10 minutes long, a very long day during Ramadan in 2015.  This is long, but not impossible, what happens if you are living north of 60 degrees?   At that point the longest day is 19 hours long or longer.   I have no idea what a Muslim in Yellowknife will do in 2015, and there is a community there.

Pizza Allnite is one of about 20 local businesses that sponsor a Ramadan and prayer calendar so that people know the exact times they can eat and when they should be praying.