Ramadan 2025
Ramadan this year runs from the evening of Friday Feb 28, 2025 until Saturday, Mar 29, 2025
I first learned of this religious celebration within Islam in 1997 when I was eating at a middle eastern restaurant called Sahara, in Englewood, Colorado. We arrived a little bit before sunset, and we noticed that as soon as the sun had dropped below the horizon that all of the employees of the restaurant were sitting at tables in the back of the restaurant eating. I asked our waitress what was happening, and she explained that it was Ramadan.
This show probably had a bit to do with me checking out Ramadan while I was in Charlotte, North Carolina near the beginning of my contract at Lowes corporate hq in 2009, when this was being broadcast. At the time, I was listening to NPR a lot and I heard that there was a celebration at the end called Eid al-Fitr.
I heard on the radio that there was a celebration happening somewhere in Charlotte, so I jumped in my car and went there. I felt a little bit like a fish out of water, since I obviously didn't undersand any of the speaking of the service. I kind of remember there being a lot of standing, sitting and kneeling at various times, kind of when I used to go to Catholic Mass.
At the end of the service, a man behind me kind of asked why I was there. I said that I was curious. He suggesed that if I wanted to learn more that I should consult the holy texts and not to take the word of any given cleric. I really respected that. In the parking lot the scene was one of great celebration, with people exchanging gifts.
For 2025 it is expected to be celebrated on the evening of Sun, 30 Mar 2025 or Mon, 31 Mar 2025.
The exact date is subject to the sighting of the moon of Shawwal (the 10th month of the Islamic Calendar). I find this interesting because it predicated on the someone specifically seeing the cosmic event of the sun crossing the horizon. I have read that if it happens to be cloudy, then they wait until the next day.
Another interesting (to me) thing of this holiday is that it runs from one New Moon to the next, and is not adjusted to align with any other arbitrary calendar. This means that over the years, it moves through the year, being some 11 days earlier from the previous year on the conventional calendars.
I've never done the practice of the holiday, which includes fasting from dawn til dusk, including no water. I have a few people in my life now who do celebrate, and I am considering doing the practice myself. Below are a couple of links I saved at one time or another. The SoundCloud link below has one episode for each day of the practice.