Ramadan is a really nice month around here. People are especially generous, there's family dinner after family dinner--feasts really. And then...there's the guy who wakes you up at 3am with his drumming.
With Ramadan prohibiting eating during daylight hours, one custom the sahoor, a pre-dawn meal to get your last bit of nutrition in before sunrise. It often happens around 3am. And at least in Damascus, the way people tradtionally know its time to wake up and do sahoor is, you got it, a drummer comes a bangin' through the neighborhood. Thuwmp-thuwmp-thuwmp.
Ahhh, tradition. It's loud enough to wake even Ambien-fortified expats.
And apparently we're among the lucky ones. Some neighborhoods have three different crews going through, each night.
Why? Because of course any service deserves payment. After Ramadan ends, the drummers go door-to-door asking you for a little something in appreciation of their work.
I'm not sure what my response will be. It depends how sleep deprived I am that day.
Pies were on the minds and forks of judges selecting a top contestant among six in the 2nd Annual Apple Dessert Contest sponsored by the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri and the Suburban Journals and STLmomsanddads.
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Posted by: Darcy | October 30, 2010 at 01:10 PM