Eid false start

Eid-ul-Fitr is the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.  The Islamic calendar is based on the moon, so it was uncertain until the night before whether Eid would be today or tomorrow.  If they saw the first sliver of the new moon last night, Eid would be today.  If they were unlucky, the moon wouldn't be seen until tonight and Eid would be tomorrow.  There is a "Moon-Sighting Committee" who would officially announce whether the moon had been seen or not - and phone numbers had been published in the newspapers for people to call if they saw the moon.  I think they were a bit ambitious to expect it to be today - they knew it was going to be today in Saudi Arabia but there they'd seen the new moon at the start of Ramadan a day before Bangladesh.  Someone else told me that it's always the day after Saudi and they didn't know why there was this "will it or won't it be the same day" every year.

The lead-up to Eid is like the lead-up to Christmas.  The shops are open all hours, with everyone buying new clothes for themselves and as gifts for their family and friends.  The traffic in Chittagong was insane, with jams at the major intersection near Tania and Bri's house (it feels so weird not to say "Carly and Tania's house"!) at 10pm and later, when normally it's pretty quiet well before that time.  Last night, the cook's kids were at the office for Iftar (the meal when they break the day's fast) and were excitedly showing me their new clothes and shoes, before packing them up to take to their house for Eid day.  It really felt like Christmas Eve - and was so nice to be with a family who were going to be involved in it all, not just hanging out on my own.

So I woke up early this morning, rushed down to the kitchen to ask Moriam if it was Eid day.  No... no moon last night, so it's tomorrow.  After all the excitement of the night before, it was a bit of an anti-climax to see everyone fasting still!  The weather today has been beautiful - sunny but not too hot.  The forecast for tomorrow is for a 100% chance of precipitation... not really compatible with all the walking from one house to another that is planned!

To top it off, my horoscope for tomorrow predicts:

You may have to be careful with your physical appearance or well-being today as you are vulnerable to accidents.

Bugger...  Hope that's not referring to my sari-wearing and walking in the mud.  I don't want any incidents of slipping in the mud in my new sari!