Orozo Ait

I know you all have been holding your collective breath and have been waiting with great diligence for the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. Well, wait no longer. Orozo Ait, which marks the end of the fast, was yesterday (October 12) and everything is back to normal.

Orozo Ait is a huge holiday here in Kyrgyzstan. From what I am told, it is second only to New Year’s Day in terms of celebration. The basic premise of the holiday is that after 30 days of fasting, families break their fast by visiting other families and eating at their houses. Each family must visit seven separate households, not including their own, obviously. The practice sounded absolutely fascinating in theory, but efficiencies have been devised by locals to make the process a little quicker a smoother and honestly a little less enthralling.

Nevertheless, my family’s strategy greatly worked to my benefit. Along with seven other houses, we went as a large collective to each house where we carried out the required rituals and moved on to the next house. This was great for me, since I got to meet almost my entire street in one day. Now I can actually shake hands with the guys standing around as I walk home from work!

The day was, in the end, a great success. I visited all my immediate neighbors and then went with a few volunteers to other houses in the village. In all, I visited ten houses, eating at eleven. I never thought I would live to see the day when I was upset at plov (traditional fried rice dish with carrots and meat) was being brought to the table, but much like Thanksgiving I was stuffed beyond what I could have ever considered my natural limit. Good thing I stocked up on antacid before I left training. I’ve been eating them like candy since yesterday about 5 PM.

In even better news, we get to do the whole thing over again in 30 days. Apparently in another month the feast is basically repeated but with a different theological justification. After that, I have to wait another 321 days (365 days- 30 days for second feast- 14 days because the feast is based on the lunar calendar, which moves ahead 2 weeks every year) for a feast like that. Good thing I have a few American holidays to hold me over.