Breaking Fast in Ramadan – with Christmas Decorations

Living in Dubai, our family is exposed to religions and rituals from all around the world: Hindus and their Diwali festival, Christians with Christmas and Easter – and Muslims, who are just now celebrating their holy month of Ramadan. For them, that means fasting from sunrise until sunset – and every night is a little feast with the break of fast, called Iftar.

Last week, as the lockdown began to soften a bit, we were invited to dine with friends from Iran for their Iftar. The table was loaded with the most delicious Persian food – and above that, to our surprise, hung a Christian advent wreath: woven pine twigs, fully decorated with Christmas stars and silver balls.

As our host said about it: “Why not? We share one God anyways – and I just always liked the Christmas decoration.” And she is right: Why not!