Happy New Year!

Today marks the beginning of a new year in the Islamic calendar.

Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Islamic calendar is lunar. In pre-Koranic times, the Arabic calendar had extra days at the end of every lunar year to make the its new year coincide with the solar year. However, the Koran forbid that practice. So now, the Islamic months do not match up with our calendar. As a result, Ramadan, Eid al Kabir, and the New Year shift slightly every year in relation to our calendar.

The big question for Daniel and me was whether or not anything would be open today. Almost everything was open when I bopped out to get a few things in the morning. But then when we headed into the medina this afternoon, we encountered nothing but closed shops.

We asked one of the few men selling cigarettes on the street, "Will everything open up after lunch or is it closed for the holiday?"

He replied, "Everything's closed today." We figured as much. But then he continued, "Everyone went to pray." And he made the bowing and praying motion to further signify what he meant.

Then Daniel and I realized: it's Friday. Many places close in the afternoon for the important afternoon prayers and then most Moroccan families have couscous and spend the rest of the day together. It's a normal day here; it just so happens that it's a normal Friday.

So we had a coffee in an empty cafe and headed back home.