Ramadan Iftar Traditions In Northern Borders Remembered From 70 Years Ago

Residents of the Northern Borders Region still recall Ramadan as a time of shared routines and close social ties, long before digital clocks and mobile alerts. Those memories show how fasting and iftar once followed simple tools that coordinated daily life across the community.

Today, modern devices manage prayer schedules, fasting reminders, and family gatherings. Yet many residents continue to speak about earlier Ramadans as a reference point. These stories highlight how community habits, rather than technology, once set the rhythm of the holy month.

About 70 years ago, daily life in Ramadan depended on cooperation and basic signals that everyone understood. Families often lacked clocks at home, and there were no loudspeakers or electronic systems. People instead relied on sounds and visible signs to know imsak and iftar times.

One of the most familiar signals was the sound of the "Seet," the industrial whistle of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline, known as Tapline. This whistle originally organised work shifts, yet during Ramadan it marked imsak and iftar, and sounded again when Eid was confirmed.

Many houses did not have refrigerators, especially in the summer months, which affected how people prepared for iftar. Workers returning from Tapline and other sites sometimes carried blocks of ice. They shared these with nearby families before Maghrib, easing hardship and showing quiet generosity.

These practices, from listening for the Seet to distributing ice, remain present in local memory. For people in the Northern Borders Region, they represent a period when shared timing, neighbourly support, and gathering at one table expressed the core spirit of Ramadan.

With inputs from SPA