On Love of Baha'i Fasting: Jungle Fast

Harsh and Nysa have a blog called ... Chutney Butt. (I'm sure there is a story there somewhere.) It's a jungle down in equatorial Ecuador. But the two of them make living in a jungle look like great fun. -gw

The Fast is upon us and we send our love to everyone. I hope the Fast treats you well, spiritually and the-crazy-ginormous-tasty-dinners, whether you’re fasting or not. It would be arrogant for me to assume that everyone who reads this blog is Baha’i. Just a quick explanation about the Fast for anyone who is unfamiliar with it. The Baha’I Fast is from March 2nd to the 21st and we celebrate our New Year (Naw-Ruz) on the 21st. The Fast basically is a time of the year when Baha’i’s are spiritually indulgent and it is a time of serious personal introspection. We don’t eat or drink from sunrise to sunset and abstaining from food is just a physical metaphor for focusing on our spiritual needs. There are various exemptions and we are asked to use our judgement to determine if we were to exercise such exemptions. For e.g. people who do hard physical labour are exempt from the Fast. They can choose to fast if they want to, but they also have the option of not fasting as their jobs are physically taxing.

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"The men at the dinner table eating armadillo, crab, fish, snails,

yuka, platano"

It is really strange to observe the Fast in the jungle. I am really happy to be somewhere new for this but at the same time you really miss the community aspect of this important part of the year. It is fabulous making dinner with Nysa and sharing our first Fast together, but you start reminiscing about your past Fast experiences. I really think of all the wonderful dinners we made in Victoria and breaking the Fast with all my friends. I know that we couldn’t do it everyday because of our crazy uni schedules, but those couplea times a week was something I’d look forward to. Makes me think of the Fast when Joey was around and how we had so many people at Nabz & Camz house and we all used to cook together. So many good times and thinking about these times makes me miss my Victoria crew so much. You’re all in my thoughts and prayers and I hope you’re getting the opportunity to break the Fast together a few times this year around. Have some food on my behalf.

Spending my Fast with Nysa has been a real blessing. All my friends know that I am not a morning person and I don’t really eat breakfast during the Fast (I know you’re with me on this Abtin). I just wait it out and have my dinner. Nysa was telling me about how her family wakes up in the morning and they all have breakfast together (sounds like the Cardin breakfast). We plan out what we want to eat for dinner and we’ve been cooking some good food (mad props to mom for haulin spices for us). I made my signature chickpea dish (thought of you Max) the other day and we demolished it with rice and yogurt. We were in Quito on business last week and on the last day we went to this huge supermarket and bought all kindsa food stuff. We made macaroni and cheese one night and pasta with pesto another night. I miss cooking with my boys but I gotta say, cooking with Nysa has been pretty cool as well.

harsh(il), "A Bird-Flew-Over-Harsh's-Head!!!" Chutney Butt
Baha'i/Indian/Somewhat Canadian/Somewhat Italian at heart/Anthropologist/World Citizen/Food eating specialist/Nocturnal/etc etc....

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{Re-posted with permission}