Auckland's Ramadan Night Markets returned for a successful third year at the New Lynn Community Centre on Saturday night.
Street vendors and patrons alike enjoyed a luxurious variety of halal foods, clothing stalls and festivities in honour of the Islamic holy month.
Vendors and patrons at a Ramadan Night Market clothing stall. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
During each day of Ramadan, Muslims observe a fast from dawn until sunset, forgoing food and water to deepen their spiritual connection with God and empathise with those less fortunate. For many, the night market brought a sense of community and provided sustenance as people broke their daily fasts.
Yalda Hashemi was one of the vendors serving the community. Her stall offered traditional Afghan foods such as mantu: a steamed dumpling full of spiced meat and copious amounts of diced onion.
Yalda Hashemi's stall at the Ramadan Night Market offered traditional Afghan foods. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
For iftar - the fast-breaking evening meal of Muslims in Ramadan - Hashemi says she is looking forward to a cup of tea.
"I feel more thirsty today. My favourite iftar treat is soft drinks and tea, but I will try to eat a date first because it's sweet."
Scarves and shawls for sale at the 2024 Ramadan Night Market in New Lynn. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
Like Hashemi, many of the street vendors have spent the day preparing several slow-cooked meals and baked treats while fasting. However, there are exceptions to fasting for people who are ill, elderly, pregnant or facing specific health conditions.
Mandy Asadpour's Sepahan Kitchen is one of the busiest stalls at the Ramadan Night Market. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
Over at the Sepahan Kitchen stall, Mandy Asadpour is not fasting, but she has prepared a feast for the market's dwellers.
Asadpour is serving traditional Iranian food: lamb kebabs cooked over charcoal and saffron rice.
Mandy Asadpour serves Iranian food at the Sepahan Kitchen stall. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
Sepahan Kitchen is one of the busiest stalls all night. Asadpour says her patrons know what they're in for. She began the business 10 years ago and has catered weddings and many other occasions over the years.
"We just cook most traditional Iranian foods," she says. "Tonight I am going to have pash - a medley of rice, chicken chunks and potatoes - and some dessert."
Asadpour points over to something called sholezard at the stall next to hers. It's a rice pudding with saffron, sugar, almonds and cinnamon.
"I will also have ash reste, which is Iranian noodle soup. In advance I say Eid Mubarak to all the Muslim people in the world."
Mustafa Ali broke his fast at the Ramadan Night Market with a date. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
Patron Mustafa Ali is at the night market with his wife and two sisters. He broke his fast with a date but said he didn't have an appetite beyond that.
"It's kind of weird, in a sense. Towards the end of the day you think about food, and then the moment you break your fast, it's like you're full.
"Growing up, we ate a lot of fried stuff for iftar, like spring rolls, samosas and meatballs and that. I think over time you become kind of health-conscious, partly because when you grow older and you break your fast with oily food, you don't feel the best."
Iftar Breaking fast with dates at Auckland's Ramadan Night Market. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
Ali lives in a mixed-heritage household; he's Fijian-Indian but born in Saudi Arabia, and his wife is Pakistani, so there's always a mix of food on offer.
"At our place there's Arab food, Western food, but I must say I love Italian food the most. My wife's real good with pastries, that's been real addicting this Ramadan. I crave everything and nothing at once, if that makes sense."
Some of the pastries on offer at the 2024 Ramadan Night Market in New Lynn. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
Ali, 34, has been fasting for more than 15 years. He says Ramadan is a time of reflection.
"I feel like when you take food and water away, it makes you reflect on other things, other people around the world that are less fortunate, like in Africa and Palestine at the moment with things happening over there.
"You increase in prayer and reading the Quran, it's all about attaining a closer connection with God on a spiritual level, and I feel like that brings inner peace.
"I think if you ask people at the start of Ramadan and the end of Ramadan, they'll say there's a sense of calm and tranquillity afterwards. It's priceless."
For Eid al-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of Ramadan, Ali plans on visiting "as many houses as possible and doing some damage [to the prepared feasts]".
"During my uni days, we'd go with our boys and we'd try and just demolish, that was literally our sole mission, but now we try to pace ourselves so we can visit as many people as possible and try a little bit of everything."
David Welch and Greg Meylan are not Muslim, but are keen to enjoy some good food at the Ramadan Night Market. Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
David Welch and Greg Meylan are on a mission to do much the same at the night market. While they aren't Muslim themselves, the pair are keen to celebrate the cultural festivities of Ramadan and enjoy some good food.
"We got some pudding, some dates and baklava, and a toffee apple, most importantly," Meylan says. "For the main course we had Persian noodles and meatballs and rice."
"We came to get some good food and we succeeded."
Shailee Adke Barde's stall offers traditional Indian art, hand-painted earrings, bookmarks, prints and embroidered scarves and bags Photo: Supplied/ Pratik Navani
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