This month is a thread that connects the members of every family in saida since families in Ramadan gather around the same table for the Iftar after a day of fasting. Once the Iftar announcement is heard, fasters enjoy the delicious food prepared. Families in Saida also invite each other for the iftar or go together to some restaurants which make special offers for Ramadan and have their iftar there. After eating, many people go to mosques and pray the Tarawe7, a praying which Moslems pray in Ramadan. They also start to read some lines from Koraan and ask God to bless their lives. In addition, mosques in Saida also prepare programs especially for Leilat Al Kader ‘Destiny night’. On this night, Moslems stay awake until dawn and spend their time praying and reading Koraan because on this night God had sent Koraan to Moslems.
Besides praying and worship, Saida is crowded with coffee shops in order to refresh its economic state and gather its citizens in a happy and interesting atmosphere. These coffee shops are spread in all Saida, but especially near the archeological places. For examples, at the entrance of Khan El-Franj which is an ancient and touristy place in Saida there are a lot of these shops which will be filled with people either from Saida or from other cities after the sunset. You can enter at street-level through a monumental porch under an arcaded gallery where the citize
ns prefer to sit in order to enjoy the mild weather especially in these summer days. There are also coffee shops that face the “Sea Castle of Saida” which is a very important archeological element and it is the favorite place of strollers searching for tranquility and the sea breeze. In addition to these places, you can find some famous old coffee shops in Saida filled with customers as if they are ants gathering on a peace of sugar. And by asking one of the customers about her opinion of Saida’s atmosphere in Ramadan she said, “It is a wonderful enterprise, it changes Saida from a normal city into a city with a vibrant economic movement. And it also changes Saida from a sleepy city into an active one.”Tourists also have their part in this activity which will be repeated everyday in Ramadan and it will be in a continuous state from sunset till Dawn.
By: Norhan Nakouzi
