Today’s the first day of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. I spoke about the practices back on the Newlywed in Dubai blog (see Ramadan).

The basic gist is that for a month Muslims fast from dawn until sunset; using it as time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. The usual practice is to have a pre-fast meal in the early morning and a post-fast meal after dark.

I was amazed in Dubai how many consumer products used Ramadan in marketing. One example I showed on the blog was the Ramadan M&Ms bag (see Ruining Ramadan).

There was an bus stop poster ad I always meant to take a photo of but didn’t. It was always too hot to stop, and I was driving fast in my air conditioned car. After the ads came down I kicked myself.

But then I found an image online.

First a little background – the Islamic calendar is lunar, so the start of Ramadan is based on the first waxing crescent moon.

Pretty awesome, isn’t it?

Ramadan Kareem, everyone. Go in peace.