By Libya Herald reporter.
Misrata, 2 November 2014:
Taking a break from concerns about the political crisis in Libya, people in Misrata today, . . .[restrict]like many others across the country, have been commemorating Ashoura by exchanging presents of food with family, friends and neighbours – usually dishes of peanuts, beans, houmus and boiled eggs.
“We do it even though we’re told it’s not allowed any more,” one Misratan resident told the Libya Herald. His wife, he said, had spent the day preparing beans, houmus and dozens of boiled egg to give to family members.
Ashoura – the 10th day of the Muslim month of Muharram – mirrors the Jewish Feast of the Atonement or Yom Kippur. According to tradition, the Prophet Mohamed when he was told by Jews in Madina who were fasting on the 10th of Muharram that Moses had done so, he too fasted, saying that Muslims should fast for two days.
Although the commemoration is not obligatory and not connected in to the Shia festival of Ashoura, it is a tradition in Libya and many fast on the 9th and 10th, others on the 10th and 11th. As in Ramadan, the fasting is from sunrise to sunset. The presents of food are then eaten. [/restrict]
