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breaking-of-the-fast gathering combined with a reunion of university friends led bank employee Risnauli Kurnia Arshanti, 24, to rush from her office in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, to a restaurant in Tebet, South Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Taking an ojek (motorcycle taxi) she arrived at the restaurant just in time for Adzan Maghrib (call for sun-set prayers), which marks the end of the dawn-to-dusk fasting.

Risnauli said that she, together with six colleagues, had arranged the gathering, known locally as buka bersama or bukber for short, after learning that another friend who was working in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, would visit Jakarta to participate in a job training.

“Although I’m a Christian, I always love to take part in bukber gatherings and have little reunions with friends during Ramadhan,” said Risnauli, who plans to attend five bukber invitations this Ramadhan.

Attending bukber, she said, gave her the motivation to get through traffic congestion, which normally prevented her from going anywhere other than her workplace.

“Although I will have to go to work early in the morning tomorrow, I don’t want to miss a chance of catching up and having a long conversation with my friends,” said Risnauli, who lives in Tambun, Bekasi, West Java.

Bukber is a chance for her to forget all work-related stress, share the latest updates and activities, or simply remember the old days, she said. In fact, such gatherings could sometimes lead to talk about business collaboration.

Bukber, according to Rizki Imansyah Lazuardi, 26, a businessman from Meruya, West Jakarta, is an opportunity to strengthen silaturahim (communal bond) with old friends.

“Bukber motivates people to arrive punctually because they want to immediately enjoy the iftar [the drinks and snacks served for breaking the fast],” said Rizki, who is organizing a bukber with old friends from junior high school at Pondok Indah Mosque in South Jakarta later this month.

He said that reunions for bukber provided different nuances compared to other reunions because they were “more religious” and sometimes involved charity for underprivileged families.

For Muslims, fasting in Ramadhan is expected to increase their sense of empathy for the poor who cannot afford to buy food on a daily basis.

They believe that God will multiply rewards for good deeds conducted during the holy month.

“We will be performing tarawih [evening Ramadhan prayers] and doing i’tikaf [staying in a mosque overnight and devoting oneself wholly to the worship of God] after the bukber,” Rizki said.

Besides strengthening interpersonal relationships, the bukber tradition has also helped boost the culinary business, because the meals are usually held at restaurants or cafés.

Pristiyanto, a manager of Moscafe & Dining at Plaza Senayan in Central Jakarta, said that visitors often competed to reserve tables days before the events were scheduled.

Yulis Setialanny Eka Azhari, manager of the Sushi Tei chain at Plaza Senayan agreed, saying that the chain was always full of customers when it came time to break the fast.

“Most customers on weekdays are workers and those on weekends are families,” she said. (fac/rez)