Algerians celebrate Ramadan in USA

Algerians in America fast with the rest of American Muslims in Ramadan during hours of day long, as they work and move without anything which predicts that they will fast, because all the restaurants and shops operate without any change, as is the case in other Muslim countries, as Ramadan changes every aspect of life.

Algerians live different U.S. States, as many of them managed to open restaurants, cafes and shops that offer some Algerian Ramadan traditions like selling sweet dumplings and almond heart cakes, which are sweets that Algerians prepare in America during the holy month of Ramadan.

Some Algerians and Arabs who live in America were interviewed y Echorouk.

Khaled, an Algerian technician in cooling, North Carolina said; “I consider this month as the most difficult, because the person feels nostalgic more than any other time, because you feel alone when you do not sit down with your mother, your father and your brothers to take the Iftar on the same table, and you do not go to cafe or neighborhood where you meet your friends.”

“We live Ramadan in an atmosphere of work like the rest of other months, as you may be late for the iftar for extra hours, and you reach home after your family take Iftar without your presence. I’m trying to compensate this during the weekend.”

Muslim Women and Fasting in USA

Algerian women have a special story in Ramadan. Women who work during eight or ten hours of time, prepare Ramadan recipes for Iftar and “Time is the enemy of working women”, as Karima from New Jersey said, who works in a school for special needs children. “I start work at 9:00 am to 6:30 pm, so I get up in the morning and prepare the most important dishes, such as soups and a second dish, and in the evening I come back exhausted, and I collaborate with my children in the preparation of light side dishes and bread, which is the master of the table in Ramadan”.

Karima affirms; “After so many years, I got used to Ramadan atmosphere in America, I also worked on the allocation of weekends for the mosque and invite friends from Algeria and Arab countries, and even Americans to show them our traditions in Ramadan and in eating.”

Amina, a Housewife from New York, considered that “Ramadan is one of the most beautiful months that I live with my family in America, probably because I do not work, as the time is right for me to cook and invite every night Algerians at the Iftar table and sometimes single women from the university, my husband and I have become accustomed to turn Ramadan to what resembles the Arab League and the United Nations, every night a new national took Iftar with us, and shares the joy and we pray Tarawih together, and we meet friends”.