March is the season of rebirth. Spring comes but with it comes renewed faith and hope for the future. Therefore, no time is better than March for Ramadan and Lent this year. At Ocean Lakes High School, several students all around the school are participating in these annual expressions of tradition.
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, marks the month in which the Qur’an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. It is a time of devotion, celebration and discipline for Muslims worldwide.
“The primary tradition is fasting, it is one of the five pillars, the fourth specifically,” junior and practicing Muslim Zaid Muhammad said.
The five pillars are faith, pillar, giving to the poor, fasting and pilgrimage. The five are the foundation of Islam and demonstrate the core beliefs of those who practice it.
“We fast and eat together,” Zaid said, “It is a time of celebration almost constantly and always is very memorable.”
Ramadan ends with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which is marked by gift giving and a feast.
In other communities around Ocean Lakes, there is remembrance and repentance rather than celebration. Earlier in February, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, took place.
“We reflect and refocus our faith in Jesus Christ during Lent,” senior Caroline Jackson said.
During Lent, many Catholics repent for their sins and remember the life of Jesus, this leads many to give up something of temptation for the 40 days to show their appreciation for him.
“During Lent, we fast something specific. For example, I am fasting from caffeine,” Jackson said.
Lent is observed in the time leading up to Easter. The 40 days of Lent is symbolic of the period that Jesus spent in the desert resisting the temptation of the devil before beginning his ministry. Many Christians echo this fasting by resisting a temptation of their own such as meat, caffeine, or sweets for all of Lent.
There are also several specific practices observed by Christians during Lent. During church services on Ash Wednesday, specific rites are commonly performed.
“They take the ash and they put it in the shape of a cross on our head,” junior and Lutheran Emmalee Cross said. “It is a symbol that we are dust and to dust we shall return.”
Lent is a very solemn time for Christians as it is the leadup to the death of Jesus, the principal leader of the Christian faith, yet Ramadan is the month of celebration for the receival of the Qur’an. These differences are clear, yet that difference proves the testament of our diversity at Ocean Lakes High School because, as Helen Keller once said: “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”
