On September 19 for members of our community who follow the religion of Islam, the month of Ramadan will have ended, and with it the days of fasting.

For Muslims Ramadan is the holiest month of the year. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and lasts 29 days. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, it moves through the seasons from year to year. During the daytime in Ramadan, people fast; that is they do not eat or drink between sun up and sundown.

If you are younger than 12, you are not usually required to fast in the way adults do.

But kids do try fasting a little with their parents to begin to understand their faith's traditions. Fasting, Muslims believe, helps them become stronger in their faith and make them more aware of the suffering of the less fortunate. In Muslim countries, Ramadan ends with a three-day celebration called Eid ul Fitr, which means "the fast is over".

The celebration begins at sundown on the last day of Ramadan. Children kiss the hands of their parents and other adults, and everyone congratulates each other.

Muslims give gifts to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Shopping for gifts for Eid ul Fitr is a popular pastime during the evenings of Ramadan, after the Iftar meal.

At Eid ul Fitr, houses are cleaned and decorated. Banners and flowers are everywhere.

In Egypt Ramadan lanterns (fawanees, or fanoos or fanus), which are now frequently made from recycled tin cans or plastic lanterns that play the latest popular music, are extremely popular with young children.

In Bermuda, the Muslim community, which embraces people from many different countries and cultures, meets at Masjid Muhammad on Cedar Avenue for prayer and an evening meal called Eid Mubarak, with lots of different foods like one big picnic.