UAE | Heritage and Culture
'It was exciting to see my own child observe the fast'
Drummers traverse the streets of Turkey, singing spiritual poems in rhythm to the drums. It's not yet dawn and they have to wake people up for suhour. It's the sound of the drums and the company of her large family that Ayten Kucuck missed the most when she spent her first Ramadan in the UAE, six years ago.
- By Nasheet Jaffer Khan, Community Solutions Editor
- Published: 00:30 September 12, 2008
- Image Credit: Vazhisojan/Gulf News
- The Kucucks say that a lot of rituals in the UAE are quite different to those compared to Turkey, especially in terms of food preparations.
Drummers traverse the streets of Turkey, singing spiritual poems in rhythm to the drums. It's not yet dawn and they have to wake people up for suhour. It's the sound of the drums and the company of her large family that Ayten Kucuck missed the most when she spent her first Ramadan in the UAE, six years ago.
"Initially, my husband and I were the only ones observing the fast during Ramadan. It was very lonely," Ayten said.
That changed last year, when their 13-year-old daughter Buse Rabia observed her first fast.
"Having the children at the iftar table was a great pleasure. The atmosphere at home was very different, too. It was exciting to see my own child observe the fast. I didn't think Rabia would last the entire day," Ayten said.
The Kucuks inculcated in their children the need and importance of Sawm or fasting, from a very early age. However, unlike most families that introduce "physical hunger" as the central core of a fast, the Kucuks were more concerned about the spiritual aspect.
"It was important that Rabia knew the pain of people in need of things that she would get without asking," Ayten said.
The lesson worked. Rabia declared that she was ready to keep her first fast. Speaking of her experience, she said: "I felt very hungry and tired but at the same time I felt good that I had fasted. I was happy I could do it."
Ayten added how the day will forever remain etched in their memories because of Rabia's "fasting confusion".
She said: "When we sat around the table for iftar, Rabia insisted on breaking her fast. All along she thought that a fast breaks as soon as one sits down at the table. The incident was hilarious."
Rabia recalled how she would get excited when friends and family would fast during Ramadan, as it was usually about "who would last the day". She said: "My friends and I still compare our experiences of the day's fast. It is a competition of sorts."
The Kucucks explain how a lot of rituals in the UAE are quite different to those compared back home, in Turkey, especially in terms of food preparations.
For Ayten, it meant spending hours in the kitchen, cooking special treats.
"I remember how I had to wake up very early, for suhour, to prepare Ziron, a special Turkish dish. It takes a lot of hard work, but anything for my children," she said.
Ayten sees hope in her children. It's in them she said that the innocence and the true spirit of Ramadan lives on.
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