'Calmer and nicer': Muslims describe first few hours of Ramadan fast

Holy month habits differ from person-to-person and place-to-place, depending on spirituality and circumstance

Decorative lights at the beginning of Ramadan at sunset on Wednesday, outside Jerusalem's Old City. AP

While on a normal day, Kulthoum Samir regularly skips breakfast, on the first day of Ramadan she is craving it.

"I normally don't drink much water during the day but today my throat is so dry. I just want to eat because I can't," the 34 year-old civil engineer tells The National.

"It's mostly psychological," she says about the difficulty of adjusting to the first day of the month-long Ramadan fast, when Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk.

On the other hand, 26-year-old humanitarian worker Alia Zaki says she is feeling "calmer and nicer", despite the changes to her morning routine.

"When I usually wake up, I have a warm cup of water and lemon. That's now gone. Then I go to the office and drink coffee. Gone," she said from Jerusalem.

"My trick for overcoming the first few days of caffeine withdrawal is to take a mild painkiller just before the fast begins at dawn," she says, laughing.

In Bahrain, the atmosphere was "spiritual" on the eve of the first day of Ramadan, a public relations executive who asked not be named told The National.

"I'm actually really looking forward to Ramadan this month. The weather is better, the working hours are short. It's an exciting Ramadan," she says, adding that the only real bother for her is not having her first cup of coffee in the morning.

"But other than that, I don't feel it affecting me psychologically. It's an important month for cleansing and being spiritual."

In north-western Syria, the situation is far worse.

Having already suffered from a dire economic situation after 12 years of civil war and the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that left 52,000 people dead in Turkey and Syria last month, trying to find food for the day is a part of life.

"Apart from the humanitarian assistance that some people receive, resources are scarce. The weather is also difficult. It's raining and cold," Abdel Mueen, 55, told The National.

"I remember back when during the good days, we used to feast on lamb and chicken. Today, buying a kilo of onions requires its own budget. Everything else has also gotten more expensive.

"People from more than one family today come together to buy one chicken among them in celebration of the first day of Ramadan.

"God help us. We say Ramadan Kareem to all anyway."