salams and ramadhan kareem everyone!
i can list many ramadhan traditions we had (in America) i don't have any here, but i'm trying really hard to change that!
while growing up in Texas:
Sahoor phone tree, everyone got a call 5-10 minutes before it was time to start eating.
the sahoor debate over which kid got away with the most sleep (usually the last person to wake up had to clean up)
Family fajr (but we always prayed as a family unless we were at school/work)
How at lunch time during ramadhan all the muslims (workers/students) in the immediate area had a place to meet up and just hang out/pray to avoid being left alone and hungry during the lunch hour.
iftar time, no one ever opened a fast alone except if stuck in traffic. it was amazing to pile into the car and go tot he masjid where all the families in the area would come to eat iftar, pray maghrib and then eat dinner. (4 families a night would be responsible for the catering and everyone took turns).
then everyone would go home and those who were able would come back later for isha, and taravih/witr.
i loved the weekend qiyams that our youth group used to put on and taught the teenagers fun ramadhan stuff, seerah and generally just keeping us busy all friday nights away from tv and stuff we were used to doing on friday nights.
the saturday potluck dinners (where every family brought a dish and a 2litre bottle of soda) and all the parents would try to out do each other. usually the men came bearing desserts to compliment their wives dishes. (it was soo much fun!)
saturday morning school (happened all year round, but during ramadhan since there was no snack time, we got to do ramadhan arts and crafts...so we learned how to do calligraphy and pottery).
the best part of it all was that we didn't have lots of little masjids, we had a few giant masjids dispersed so everyone was from a different culture and there wasn't as much self induced segregation and everyone hugged everyone all the friggin time)!
i miss the special ramadhan jummuah prayers as well.
anyway, i'm nearly due... so i'm not fasting this year. but the lack of muslim community really gets me down while i live in London. i really really really wish i could give my kids the islamic environment i had while growing up.