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| Unsplash photo by Sadman Sakib |
Moon
by Amy E. Sklansky
Marvelous
Opaque
Orb.
Night-light
for the world.
Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year in Islamic culture. It is a lunar-based month-long time of fasting and celebration. Ramadan 2019 begins on Sunday or Monday (the new moon is May 4, and the actual date of the beginning of Ramadan is contingent on the first sighting of the moon), and many of our Muslim students (and all of our Muslim staff) will be fasting from dawn to sunset through the month of Ramadan. This month of fasting, prayer, community, and charity culminates with the festival of Eid ul Fitr.
Only about 20% of Muslims live in (or are from) Arab countries. South Asia contains the largest population of Muslims in the world. My students who will observe Ramadan are from Morocco, Sudan, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Pakistan.
Jama has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup.
I love the moon.
ReplyDeleteIt's a new moon poem to me, Mary Lee, and lovely. Thanks for the reminder about Ramadan.
ReplyDeleteMary Lee, your acrostic is lovely, and thank you for sharing a bit about Ramadan.
ReplyDeleteI wish I would have written that acrostic, but it's by Amy E. Sklansky!
DeleteBeautiful acrostic. Thanks for the heads up about Ramadan. Wasn't quite sure when it's supposed to begin.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a whole Earth night light.
ReplyDeleteRamadan must be tough at school. I'm glad your students have a knowledgeable teacher in you, that can only help.
Thank you for teaching me more about Ramadan. There are so many good reasons to celebrate that "night-light for the world"!
ReplyDeleteGreat post - thank you.
ReplyDeleteThis lovely poem and your post remind me of how we are all connected.
ReplyDeleteSuch beauty in the simplicity of the moon acrostic. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHow true...how beautiful. You inspire me to include Ramadan in Poetry Friday. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you educate yourself about what is important to your students.
ReplyDeleteI am always amazed, by poets (like you and Amy Sklansky) who manage to say so much in so few words. I love"Night lIght for the world." Perfect! And thanks for the information about Ramadan. I don't have any students who will celebrate this year, but I have in the past. I am always humbled by their self-discipline.
ReplyDeleteNight light for the world-how beautiful! I only had a few Muslim children but I still exposed all my students to stories about Ramadan when I opened my Holiday House Read In in my reading room each year. Thank you for sharing the holiday and how it is associated with the moon.
ReplyDeleteNight light for the world is a fabulous line!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this information about Ramadan. It's important to understand what community members are going through this time of year. I've had students come and proudly tell me that this year they were going to fast. How proud they were.
Thank you for sharing such a lovely photo and poem of the moon and for the gracious explanation of Ramadan.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, Mary Lee. I have two third grade students right now who are celebrating Ramadan. They fast during lunch and their teacher has opened her classroom for them to sit away from the lunchroom.
ReplyDelete