The Ramadan storytellers

Khalfan Al Romaithi, also an Emirati pensioner from Abu Dhabi, fondly remembers his childhood Ramadans in the pre-oil days. Life was harsh and poor then, people having to cook on open fires in the heat of the day.

‘So poor we were that men would have just one change of clothes,’ he says.

After iftar and prayers, people would often entertain themselves with storytelling. The most famous were the Bedouins, considered master storytellers, who used to tell tales of myths and legends. Some would share their own real-life stories about the problems they faced, how they dealt with the heat or how they went pearl diving.

‘I grew up on the island of Fyey, off the coast of Abu Dhabi emirate. We had a barasti house there, made of palm fronds. The summers were too hot on the island, so we spent them in Al Ain, where we had plantations of palm trees and watermelons,’ remembers Khalfan.

‘On the island we had a lot more rain, so we had these massive cement tanks dug into the ground, to collect rain and mist water, which we shared among us. We called these pools ‘bilke’. On Abu Dhabi island, there were several wells dug around Qasr Al Hosn and people went on donkey to take water, which they took and sold to people’s houses scattered on the island.

‘During Ramadan nights, I remember people going to cafes. These too were made of palm fronds. The nights being cooler, the tables and chairs were moved outside, in the sand. I used to watch people playing cards or board games. Sometimes they would start arguing over the game, but people around them quickly stopped them. ‘Ho, ho, it’s Ramadan’, people would shout at them.’

Khalfan, now in his 70s, can’t remember his first fasting experience, but he is pretty certain it happened when he turned seven years old. According to old traditions, children, particularly boys, have to start fasting when they turn seven years of age.

Despite the inevitable loss of traditions or the modern twists brought in by the younger generations, the spirit of Ramadan endures, and how Muslims spend Ramadan nowadays would very likely become ‘old customs’ 50 years down the line.