LOS ANGELES: Like billions of their fellow Muslims around the world, families in the US are revelling in an observation of Ramadan without strict COVID-19 restrictions.
During the holy month, Syrian father Faisal Al-Sawaf, his Egyptian wife and daughters Hana and Dana Al-Sawaf go all out to keep the spirit of Ramadan alive for their five American children.
While observing the previous two Ramadans for the Al-Sawaf family has been muted due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year they are hosting bonding activities, marking traditions, and have set up a large, classically styled tent in their garden.
“We had to arrange with a couple of friends and family back in Saudi Arabia, we bought it from a city called Hafr Al-Batin,” Faisal explained to Arab News.
“It’s a family gathering, we always like to have friends, people, family, neighbors, the tent, it actually solved a big problem for us as it's hard to host everybody in one place in the house,” he added.
The tent is the dazzling centerpiece of a house already decorated with lanterns, stickers and signs and where the Al-Sawafs have been crafting ornate wooden boxes filled with desserts to give to their loved ones.
“We customized certain boxes that we got engraved with an Arabic message,” Hana told Arab News. “And within, it has a lot of traditional Arabic sweets, desserts, chocolates, dates, so we spent a lot of time preparng the boxes. Each box has something different, something new.”
She continued: “We just composed it together, and we plan on when we go see the families, and when we’re going to go give them.”
It may not be the typical way to observe the Holy Month, but for families so far from their cultural community, it's a way to stay connected. And with everyone gathered under the same canvas, that sense of connection can be shared.
One of the Al-Sawaf daughters, Dana, explained to Arab News what the holy month means to her.
“Ramadan means a lot of things but most importantly means family because it’s a time where we all get closer together and it surrounds us with the people you love and it also gives us the time to connect spiritually and physically.”
