Eid-al-fitr

Eid Mubarek!(which means "Blessed Feast") That is the greeting that is being heard all across the island today. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan in Islam. Muslims don't make up a particularly large segment of the population of Trinidad, but Charlieville has one of the highest concentrations in the country. We can see two different mosques from our living room, and a third is under construction just up the street. We also hear the call to prayer up to five times every day, although we usually are able to sleep through the first call that comes at about 5:00 am. For the past month, our observant Muslim neighbors have been fasting during daylight hours--nothing to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Each night, there have been big gatherings at the mosque where many have gone to break the fast together. Today is a day of feasting and celebration that the fast is all over. We've been hearing quite a number of fireworks as well.
The government of Trinidad & Tobago recognizes the major holidays of a number of religious groups represented here. So tomorrow (Monday) is an official public holiday. All schools, government offices, banks and many other businesses will be closed. One of the interesting aspects of the Eid is that it cannot be officially declared until the moon is sighted on a particular night marking the end of Ramadan. So while it has been known for some time that the feast would be held sometime around now, the government didn't publicly declare that tomorrow would be the holiday until last Monday. The Hindu holiday of Divali is similar. We know that there will be a public holiday sometime around the middle of next month, but will have to wait until a week or two before it occurs to find out the exact day.
~Richard

Happy Eid! Since today is Eid, tomorrow is a public holiday, so we have a long weekend and therefore done some fun things. We had heard that the ministry of health was doing a health fest, and part of it was a 5 kilometer run/walk around the savannah in Port of Spain. Olivia had been a little out of practice running, but still interested, and me and Mommy decided to try the walk. It felt good to walk, and I'm really glad we did it, but there was a little problem. Last year, they had about 2,000 people show up for the walk/run. So they planned for 3,500 this year, thinking that they would end up with extra t-shirts, water, and medals (the things they hand out to the participants). But they think that 10,000 showed up this year!! There were 3 places they were supposed to hand out water (2 stops and the finish line) but by the time me and Mommy got there, there was no water anymore, so we were really thirsty by the time we finished!
~Roxy

As Roxy just explained, there was a health fest yesterday and we decided to go. I joined the 5k run. The registration was from 1:00 to 4:00, and we got there around 3:00 or 3:30 but by that time, there weren't any registration numbers, but they let me run anyways. Around 4:15, we went out into the street and the people in the front were at the starting line. I looked, but in front of me all I could see was people and behind me all I could see was people, so I wasn't sure how far I was from the starting line. We stood around for a while and then all the sudden there was a horn, and I realized it had started. There wasn't any sort of warning. But then it was at least a minute or two before I got to the starting line since there were so many people in front of me and some were walkers, and it was hard to get past people, but then I was able to run. I'm not used to running in this humidity. It was hot, but the humidity was worse than the temperature. They handed out water at a few places, which was nice, but it meant that I had to stop and walk a few times, so I could drink, and I had to carry my water with me which made it heavier. My time wasn't very good, but I haven't run in a while and it was really humid, which made it harder to breathe. Plus there were so many people sometimes it got jammed up, and I stopped to drink water a few times. But I was at least in the top 3500 (out of around 10,000), because I got a medal, and they had planned for 3500 people, so they must have gotten 3500 medals. But the 10,000 also included walkers. It was nice to run again, even though I'm pretty sore today!
~Olivia

Today we visited a 5th out of the 6 Mennonite churches here. It is Sangre Grande Mennonite Church. It has a very different history from all the other Mennonite churches on the island. About 3 or 4 years ago this church was not a part of a denomination. The pastor was good friends with one of the long time Mennonite pastors here. When the pastor of the church was unable to contine in his ministry there, he said that the only person he could imagine being the next pastor was his Mennonite frined. So the Mennonite pastor agreed and the church became Mennonite. It is the largest of the Mennonite churches here with an average attendance of about 55. It is also quite far away from the others. We traveled much farther east today than we have been. It took us about 1 1/4 hours to get there without bad traffic.
The church was very friendly. I was greeted with kisses on the cheek which is not an uncommon greeting here, though that seems to vary. After church we were invited to the pastor's home for lunch.
We came back to the apartment and rested a bit. There isn't much on TV on Sunday afternoons. We could choose from the BBC series on ancient Rome, a sports story show that looks ahead to the Beijing Olympics and the Muslim call in show in which a scholar answers questions about things like what is permissible during Ramadan or how to celebrate Eid properly.
After a rest we decided to go to an Indian festival nearby. It turned out mostly to be vendors selling pretty Indian clothes and jewelery. We were disappointed not to find the food and music we'd hoped. But it was still full of color and style. Tomorrow we may just stay around home on the holiday.
~Barb