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EveryParampara

Fasting and breaking the fast

Ramadan iftar, Lent, Ekadashi: the rules of the fast and how it ends.

Fasting customs are the rules of what is given up, for how long and how the fast is ended: Ramadan from dawn to dusk, Lent and its Fridays, Ekadashi, Yom Kippur, Buddhist observance days. These pages describe the practice as those who keep it would, and say nothing about health.

Rules of the fast

Each tradition has its own: who is expected to fast and who is excused, what counts as breaking it, when it begins and ends. Children, the sick, travellers and pregnant women are often treated with specific exceptions.

Breaking the fast

The meal that ends a fast usually has its own ritual: a prayer, a first sip or date, a gathering of the family or neighbours, a shared table at the mosque or the temple. It is one of the most social moments of the year in many communities.

About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Fasting and breaking the fast (meal). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindSpiritualFestivalRite of passageTable customSeasonalDressPerformanceEtiquetteCraftGameFolkloreHomeCeremony
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreLentQuadragesima Forty days of prayer, fasting and giving that lead Christians towards EasterSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇪🇬 Egypt and 3 moreGreat LentΜεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή The forty-day fast before Easter, kept by Eastern Christians as a season of prayerSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇪🇬 Alexandria, Egypt and 5 moreCenobitic monasticism A communal way of monastic life where monks live, pray, and follow a shared ruleSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇩🇿 Tlemcen, AlgeriaAshura in Algeriaيوم عاشوراء A day of fasting, almsgiving, evening feasting and regional folk masquerades.Festival · Fasting and breaking the fast

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly EveryParampara

Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.