Celebrating Eid al-Fitr alone

At just after 1am in the early hours of the morning, a rustling sound was heard coming from the direction of the kitchen. On investigation, I discovered that the sound was coming from none other than the Indonesian nurse, Yadi (雅蒂), who was busily preparing to cook noodles.

Yadi comes from Indramayu in the West Java province of Indonesia, and has been living in Taiwan for almost two years. This is not her first time away from home on a work assignment; on her last job, she traveled to Saudi Arabia, where she worked as a nanny and housekeeper.

The 9th month of the Islamic calendar is Ramadan, which in terms of the Western calendar, is from about mid-June to mid-July. During this month, Muslims are forbidden to eat food or drink water during the day; for the strictest of Muslims, even the swallowing of saliva is forbidden! During Ramadan, smoking and sexual activity are also prohibited, thereby helping to restrain one’s desires. But after the sun goes down, everything goes back to normal, and Muslims often get together with a few good friends to share special food that is unique to Ramadan.

As it happened, the day of shooting coincided with the last day of Ramadan, which is called Eid al-Fitr (Feast of Breaking the Fast) for Muslims – Eid al-Fitr is the Muslim equivalent of Chinese New Year. Without taking leave for the whole month, Yadi spent Eid al-Fitr alone in rural Changhua.

Celebrating Eid al-Fitr alone 

URL:https://www.peopo.org/news/282219

(以下是中文對照)

一個人的開齋節

凌晨一點多，廚房傳來窸窸窣窣的聲音，走進一看發現原來是印尼籍看護雅蒂正在煮泡麵。雅蒂來台灣已經快兩年了，她的家鄉在印尼西爪哇省的南安迪地區，這不是她第一次離開家鄉某職，她上一份工作是在阿拉伯當保姆。
 
伊斯蘭曆的九月是齋戒月，換算成西曆，約是六月中旬到七月中旬這段日子。在這 1個月內，穆斯林白天不可以吃東西，也不可以喝水，更嚴格一點的，甚至是連吞口水都不行。在齋戒月也禁菸、禁止性行為，藉此來克制自己本身的慾望。但是太陽下山之後一切就恢復正常，穆斯林常會三五好友聚在一起，並分享齋戒月特有的食物。拍攝這天剛好是齋戒月的最後一日，稱為開齋節，對於穆斯林而言，開齋節形同中國的新年。每月堅持不休假的雅蒂，在彰化的鄉村獨自度過自己的開齋節。