Everyone on here has been talking about Christmas. I want to talk about Hari Raya. Hari Raya is the first day in the month of Syawal, which Muslims celebrate after a month of fasting (the month of Ramadan). Christians have 12 days of Xmas, right? We have 30 days--woohoo! Today is the 22nd day of Raya. I don't know how many of you are familiar with what we do during Ramadan...Basically we fast from sunrise to sunset, but it's not as simple as it sounds. I'm not going to go into detail, but other than not being able to eat or drink, we're also not allowed to...how do I say this? Put stuff in our body. For instance, sex, picking your nose and even cleaning your ears are no-nos. But that's just physical stuff. We're also not supposed to say bad things about people behind their backs and tell lies. These are just a few examples of stuff you can't do while you're fasting; if you do them, your fast is considered to be broken. Consequently, we are encouraged to be extra good. We're supposed to pray five times a day anyway, but during the fasting month, if you miss your prayers, even if you don't do any of the things that would break your fast and you fast the whole day, we believe that Allah (our God) does not accept your fast. We're encouraged to read the Quran, and go for special prayers at night; after the fifth(and last) prayer of the day. Now, we're supposed to do all this for 30 days straight, but women are not allowed to fast if they get their period, so we actually get time off. However, I did not get my period during Ramadan (I'm not pregnant, just got unreliable hormones), so I fasted for the whole month. During this year's Ramadan--and this may sound cheesy--I sort of experienced a spiritual awakening. I'm not saying that I changed and became the perfect Muslim; to put it simply, I feel that my sense of spirituality was heightened and I felt more close to God than usual. And so, on the eve of Hari Raya, I felt the weirdest thing: Sorrow. I didn't get totally depressed, I was just kind of sad to have the month of Ramadan end. I think it was because I had a feeling that I wasn't going to be as good a person during the rest of the year as compared to that one month. Which is actually pretty bad. But I also think it's because I came to cherish Ramadan, which is the holy month. We also believe that during Ramadan, God puts chains on Satan and all the other bad spirits so that they can't leave Hell and tempt us mortals into doing bad things. A lot of other significant things happen during Ramadan, but I won't go into that. Everything that I've written so far is a lead-up to this:Reading about other people's experience with Xmas has reminded me about how much more I appreciated Hari Raya this year, and am appreciating the following 29 days. You see, that's what Ramadan does to you. You fast for 30 days and you learn to appreciate everything you have so much more. So when Hari Raya comes 'round...well it's pretty much the feeling you Christians get when you celebrate Xmas. And, like Xmas, we too have our share of getting material things to celebrate Hari Raya..We buy new clothes, get Raya money and pretty much pig out on Raya food. I've gone to celebrate at a lot of other people's houses, and am, in fact, going to another Hari Raya gathering tonight. Exciting!! Everyone else is celebrating Xmas. I wanted to share that I'm still celebrating Raya. :) Merry Xmas, Selamat Hari Raya and a Happy New Year to everyone! :)