By Samantha Wright Allen
The crowd started trickling into Little Italy’s banquet hall well before sunset and the start of Iftar, when Muslims break fast during Ramadan. On Friday, food became the second course, a sideshow to the main event where non-Muslims were introduced to a nightly tradition.
Now in its sixth year, Harmony Iftar is an annual Ottawa event hosted during Ramadan to invite people of all faiths to the feast in an exercise of community building and education.
“There aren’t many options to learn about Islam from Muslims,” says Lisa Duchene, who was at the first gathering of 40 friends, held at Carleton University. Now, organizers estimate 400 people will fill the white-clothed tables at Sala San Marco banquet hall. “We never thought it would get this big.” [Read more…]
