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ast-breaking gatherings, which bring people closer together during Ramadan, may also be used to show off.

Indra Febriansyah, 28, a writer, said that some blew their own trumpets at fast-breaking gatherings. “Sometimes, the gatherings, mostly of old friends, turn into show-off parades where people brag about their achievements,” Indra told The Jakarta Post. He added that they mostly talked up their jobs, positions and education.

“But, the most obvious is how people ‘dress to kill’. We want to look great in front of our old friends,” he said, adding it was fun to be different and beautiful when others were mostly in working attire.

“I think it’s positive and fun. No one actually pays attention to the conversation; it’s merely for the sake of being nice. It’s your look that matters,” Indra said.

He added that most gatherings of old friends that he attended, were often boring with dull conversation. So, appearance has a greater lasting effect than talk.

But any fast-breaking gathering is worthwhile for networking, he said.

Indra went to fast-breaking gatherings at restaurants, cafes, malls and hotels almost every night during the Islamic fasting month.

Wirastomo Hadi, 28, who works in an advertising company, said that boasting at these gatherings was outdated.

“Several years ago, when my university friends and I had just graduated, stepping into careers, we often bragged about our work. But not anymore,” he said.

Wirastomo added that now they mostly talked about families since the majority were married.

The spirit of fast-breaking gatherings do not only belong to Muslims. A 28-year-old Christian, Tiur Sitorus, is also an enthusiast of the tradition.

“I’m not Muslim, but I love attending fast-breaking gatherings,” she said, adding that she often helped her friends organize the gatherings.

“We made Ramadan an excuse to hold such gatherings as a positive gesture. Even better, we update our long lost friends’ contacts and plan to make small clubs involving people with the same interests,” she said.

“If someone is boastful, we will ask them to pay the tab. So, no one would dare talk themselves up, they won’t even show off their appearance,” she said laughing.

Tiur also broke the fast once with her online social networking friends. “I made new friends from an event held by a mailing-list group of the Foursquare Jakarta chapter.”

The Couch Surfing Jakarta group, an online travel community, also held a similar event.

“We hate breaking the fast at cafes or malls; it’s too much. So, I came up with an idea to break the fast at mosques in the city every Friday,” Toton Suhartanto, 37, an architect from the Association of Indonesian Architects (IAI), told the Post.

He added that the first gathering was in the Al-Azhar Mosque in South Jakarta and the second in Al Hakim mosque in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

“It’s like combining our duty to God with fun such as having a mosque and culinary tour,” he said.

Toton explained that first they broke the fast by eating free tajil (sugary snacks and drinks consumed to break the fast) provided by the mosques.

“We grabbed our dinner from vendors around the mosques before we had tarawih [evening prayer during Ramadan],” he said. (ipa)