Yahoo Finance 
Ramadan 2023: from decorations to Iftar meals
Ramadan (which started this year on 22nd March 2023) is the holy month of the Islamic calendar during which hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide fast from sunrise to sunset – refraining from eating and drinking, only eating a pre-dawn meal called Suhoor and breaking their fast with an evening feast called Iftar. The 29 to 30-day month culminates in the celebration of the festival of Eid-al-Fitr this Friday or Saturday.
Ramadan varies each year as the Islamic calendar is based on lunar cycles, not the Gregorian calendar. Since the new moon is different from country to country, Ramadan start dates differ from location to location but usually only by a day.
For Muslims who observed fasting, other parts of their lives continued as usual, at work, home and education. Ramadan is also a time to decorate the home with festive lanterns and furnishings, and plan Iftar meals. From decorative banners and festive lighting to mouth-watering Iftar spreads, Ramadan has embedded itself into high street home decor aisles and online shopping stores.
Ramadan is a time for togetherness, with the celebration of Eid as the highlight of the year. In Arabic, Eid-ul-Fitr means the 'Festival of Breaking Fast', concluding the end of Ramadan when Muslims dress up on Eid morning in new clothes, decorate their houses for the occasion, visit family and friends, greet one another saying 'Eid Mubarak' which means 'blessed Eid', and of course, eat a huge array of dishes.
Mehera Quadir, co-founder and Operations Director at health supplement company Superbotanic, prepared for Ramadan with her three children, and began decluttering her home to create space for a Ramadan corner to enable a place for prayer and meditation. In between school runs and overseeing her business operations, Mehera shopped online for lanterns, prayer mats, candles, flowers, scents and other decorative pieces.
'In our family room, we designated a space for our Ramadan corner where we kept our activity books, Quran, and journals,' she tells us.
Small lights entwined on a delicate thread of gold leaves, a gilded lantern, and a handmade small table canvas with the words, 'So be patient with a beautiful patience' in Arabic and English adorned her vintage-looking festive corner displayed on a cabinet in her living room. Mehera and her family opened their Ramadan advent calendar every day and the children created Ramadan cards with treats for their neighbours.
For Iftar she prepared healthy snacks and dishes, with the help of her children. Dates were a must, with dishes like grilled chicken on a bed of Mediterranean salad of tomatoes, olives, cucumber and pomegranate, accompanied with homemade soft garlic naan. Her two Iftar vices were her mother's lentil fritters and sister's mango lassi (a traditional yoghurt-based drink). In a bid to not waste any food after the big Iftar spread each day, Mehera used the leftovers to create new meals.
Shahana Khanum, founder of Kaydeena, an educational Islamic teaching platform, created a welcoming atmosphere during Ramadan using gold lighting and an array of auburn, gold and yellow furnishings.
While there are no specific colours or symbols that represent Islam, the colour green, plus the moon and crescent have for centuries been associated with the Islamic faith, as do the colours red, yellow, white and black.
Shahana, her husband and their four children decorated their red front door with a handmade gold greeting, 'Ramadan Mubarak' on top of a wreath of green leaves. They opted for a colourful window display by creating a city of mosque collages.
Indoors, the family opted for a more Arabic-centred seating arrangement with cushions on a soft mat on the floor to share food, reflect and pray. Creating a celebratory Ramadan ambience, the living room had a spread of trinkets such as Islamic affirmations on printed canvases, magnets, and intricately designed small date boxes.
Conscious of working around her family and business, Shahana planned for Suhoor and Iftar meals by purchasing groceries in advance to save time for a smooth Ramadan. It also helped in making time for Ramadan visits – this year she and her family visited London's Victoria & Albert Museum to see the Ramadan Pavilion display, and, as part of the Muslim Scouts, her husband had booked Iftar under the stars at Gilwell park in Chingford.
For many Muslims, Ramadan is also a time of reconnecting family, faith and identity. Portsmouth-born Ola Labib gave up her full-time job as a clinical pharmacist to become a stand-up comedian – she is the first Sudanese woman to perform at the O2. 'I like to set goals for Ramadan and prepare for it mentally as a time to better myself spiritually,' she says.
Ola had never decorated during Ramadan, but last year when she spent Ramadan with her husband's family in Alexandria, Egypt, she saw how they decorated not only their houses, but the streets, too. This year, in between touring, Ola integrated her Sudanese identity into her Ramadan décor, focusing on using handmade ornaments from Sudan. One item she treasures is the Mubkhar from her village in Sudan. Handmade and painted red, the Mubkhar is traditionally made from clay or soft stone and used to mix Bukhoor. Bukhoor is the Arabic name of wood chips soaked in perfume oils, and when burnt in a traditional incense burner like the Mubkhar, creates an exotic and beautiful aroma. It's an integral part of Islamic and Arab tradition and culture.
Even with her busy tour schedule, Ola and her husband broke their fast with dates, water and soup – which was an essential part of their Ramadan – followed by another dish and salad.
Many Muslims are conscious of eating healthily during Ramadan. Saima Duhare, founder of It's Halal, the UK's first halal non-subscription food box service, also decided on simple Iftar meals based on her own recipe boxes. It's Halal's vision is to transform and revolutionise the way people eat and shop, with pre-proportioned meals that are accompanied by easy-to-follow recipe cards. Saima's Iftar meals reflected the recipes she created for her customers like her Thareed beef cubes with potatoes, sumac yogurt and Arabian bread, based on an ancient Islamic recipe.
During Ramadan, Saima relished having a quiet corner enhanced with candles and fragrances, creating an inviting and relaxing environment for reflection. She had a wooden book holder to place her Quran with a white rosary on top, a hexagon-shaped brass date box, and a stained glass and wrought brass lantern. Electronic devices were put away so that her mind was free from distractions. It's all about balance.
'Ramadan is not just a superficial show of beautiful objects and decorations but is a time to beautify our hearts and minds and extend compassion, and help those less fortunate than ourselves,' says Saima.
For Kazi Shafiqur Rahman, co-founder of Sunnamusk, a Muslim fragrance company, Ramadan was a special time for his family to establish positive habits, goals, and the spirit of community.
This year, Shafiq performed the Azaan (call to prayer), at an Iftar function for the England & Wales Cricket Board at the Lord's Cricket Ground, to over 200 distinguished guests including the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, ministers and parliamentarians. 'Ramadan is about abstaining from any food intake; it is also about the sharing and exchanging of gifts,' he said in his speech.
One of the most important aspects of Ramadan is extending kindness to each other and connecting as one community. Iftars are a brilliant celebration of our diverse communities, where people are welcomed to break fast together. As Muslims say farewell to Ramadan, excitedly to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, many marvel at how Ramadan and the festival of Eid continues to bring people together of all faiths and none.
We're wishing a happy and peaceful day to Muslims celebrating Eid this week. Eid Mubarak!
Follow House Beautiful on TikTok and Instagram.
You Might Also Like
