Celebrations of Eid al-Fitr Spring Bank West Parade by Mo

This evening (29th Nov) I was invited out by Adelat a Kurdish friend to take part in the local celebrations of Eid al-Fitr marking the Breaking of the Ramadan Fast. We met up in one of the only two Kurdish restaurants in Hull, where I found him tucking into chicken and rice dinner alongside several other Kurdish friends.

The flat bread is served like pizzas in a pile, and strangely everyone folds it neatly in the same manner before ripping off a piece. Joining in with the delicious green tea I was reminded of the last time in Gibraltar I had tasted such a refreshing glass, piping hot with loads of sugar at the bottom. Perfect after a good feed.

Anyway Adelat did his best to get me up to speed with what's been going on in the Muslim world. Going by a lunar calendar the fast of Ramadan is in the ninth month of the year during which time, Muslims fast during daylight hours - they are not supposed to eat, drink, smoke or have sex.

After sundown, they pray, eat a meal called the Iftar, with the fast starting again before sunrise, and this is repeated for 30 days in a row. The purpose is to remind them of the suffering of poor people, to practise self-control and to pray in a community with other Muslims.

We made our way around the corner to the Spring Bank West Parade community centre where a many local Kurds and their families had congregated to celebrate with an evening's music and dance. Long lines of people began to join hands (by the little finger I'm told) and together danced one of two alternate dances (I didn't get their names, but one was rather quicker than the other).

I don't know if it's their absence from Kurdistan or merely their nature to appear so together, almost like having your extended family at a do. I shook hands, as you do, and actually met some of their football team, I was being introduced about like the royal family ha! I took out my camera and took some pictures to finish the evening off.

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