Ramadhan ( A descriptive reflection )

One family celebration that I'll never forget would be Ramadhan back in 2011. I’ll never forget this family celebration because it was the last Ramadhan with my grandfather from my mother’s side and when he was younger he used to be an important person in the army. He passed away in late 2011 because of diabetes. I really enjoyed this specific Ramadhan because it felt different than the Ramadhan celebrations we had had before and since. We did a lot of things we usually didn’t do during the other Ramadhan celebrations.

I really enjoyed this particular celebration because of the things we did during the celebration. One of these things was, when my aunt and uncle threw money in the air and whatever we caught, it was ours. Funny thing was that while they were throwing the money, some of my grandma’s neighbors came inside too. They also started grabbing the money. After all those people left the house my uncle and aunt started handing out the money instead of throwing it in the air. In the end I gathered around 1.950.000 Rupiah!

Another thing we do on this special day is go to my great grandfather and great grandmother’s graves. I don’t know why exactly but visiting the graves this time felt so different. As usual we bought flowers and some rose water at cemetery. We went to their graves and made a big heart shape of flower petals around a small plant that was between the two graves. The heart represents their love for each other. After making the heart we walked around and put some flower petals on other people’s graves.

We came home and we forgave each other.  It’s a tradition in our family to ask for forgiveness from each other. So firstly the oldest of the family sits down. Then the second oldest person asks for forgiveness from the oldest and sits besides them. After that the third oldest asks for forgiveness from the oldest and the second oldest. It goes on like that until the youngest has asked for forgiveness from the others or the ones older than him or her. After we have asked for forgiveness we usually change our clothes and go to the mall to do something.

That Ramadhan was a family celebration I’ll never forget. It was the last one with my grandfather and we did a lot of things that I enjoyed. Such as throwing money but, we also did some things where teardrops gently fell onto the floor. Usually when we forgive there are some tears rolling over our cheeks. Despite the tears we also pray for my great grandfather and grandmother that we would meet them in heaven. The Ramadhan celebration in 2011 was very special for me and I’ll never forget about it. I’ll never forget about it and I don’t want to forget about it because it is a special and precious memory to me.