Why does ramadan change each year

Throughout the Ramadan period, adult Muslims of able body and mind will fast for 30 days between dusk and dawn and break their fast with a traditional meal called ' Iftar '. This fast includes abstaining from eating or drinking anything, and sexual intimacy until sunset.

Many observers also choose to stay away from smoking, taking medicine and chewing gum during this time window. These fasting periods can range from hours per day.

Before fasting each day, Muslims will begin with a pre-fast meal called ' suhur ', and then begin the ' fajr ', the first prayer of the day. At dusk, Muslims celebrate with the meal known as the ' iftar ', which means "breaking the fast", often shared with family and friends.

During Ramadan , it is common to give to charity, otherwise known as Zakt which is a fixed percentage of income a believer is required to give to the poor; the practice is obligatory as one of the pillars of Islam. At sunset each day, the faithful are permitted to break their fast with a meal called iftar , thus ending what can be a grueling stretch of hours without food and water—especially when Ramadan falls during the long days of summer, as it does this year.

Ramadan comes at a different time every year because it is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, a date-keeping system based on lunar cycles, unlike the Gregorian calendar the one used by most of the world, including the U. A new month begins with the appearance of the new moon, or the crescent moon, and ends with the next appearance of a new moon. The month of Ramadan thus moves backwards about 10 days every year relative to the Gregorian calendar.

But even within Islam there is debate over when precisely Ramadan begins, since, according to the faith-community website Pathos, different communities follow different protocol for determining when a new month begins.

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Muslim prayers involve a lot of movement — bending over, prostrating on the ground, standing up, etc.

Doing all that physical activity on a full stomach after not having eaten for 15 hours is a recipe for disaster. Just trust me on this one. Some of you may be thinking, "Wow, that sounds like a great way to lose weight! I'm going to try it! That's because eating large meals super early in the morning and late at night with a long period of low activity bordering on lethargy in between can wreak havoc on your metabolism.

But if you're careful, you can avoid putting on weight, and you may actually lose a few pounds. One meta-analysis of scientific studies on the effects of Ramadan fasting on body weight found that "[w]eight changes during Ramadan were relatively small and mostly reversed after Ramadan, gradually returning to pre-Ramadan status.

Ramadan provides an opportunity to lose weight, but structured and consistent lifestyle modifications are necessary to achieve lasting weight loss. So just like with any other extreme diet plan, you may lose a few pounds, but unless you actually make "structured and consistent lifestyle modifications," you're probably not going to see major, lasting results.

For religious matters, Muslims follow a lunar calendar — that is, one based on the phases of the moon — whose 12 months add up to approximately days. That's 11 days shorter than the days of the standard Gregorian calendar.

Therefore, the Islamic lunar calendar moves backward approximately 11 days each year in relation to the regular Gregorian calendar. So that means that the first day of the month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, moves backward by about 11 days each year.

This has a large impact on how people experience Ramadan from year to year. When Ramadan falls in the winter, it's much easier to fast: the days are shorter, which means you don't have to fast as long, and it's colder out, so not being able to drink water all day isn't as big of a deal because you're not sweating as much.

Conversely, when Ramadan falls in the summer, fasting can be brutal. In many Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa, summer temperatures can reach levels usually reserved for the deepest bowels of hell.

And in some Northern European countries such as Iceland, Norway, and Sweden where, yes, there are Muslims , fasting can last an average of 20 hours or more in the summer.

And in a few places above the Arctic Circle, the sun never actually sets in the summer. In these cases, Muslim religious authorities have decreed that Muslims can either fast along with the closest Muslim country or fast along with Mecca, Saudi Arabia. There's a reason "Ramadan start date" is one of the most-searched phrases every single year.

That's because Muslims around the world do not know when exactly Ramadan is actually supposed to start. If you Google it, you'll see there's a little disclaimer under Google's answer that says "Dates may vary":. That also has to do with the moon — as well as disagreements about science, history, and tradition, plus a bit of geopolitical rivalry.

The beginning of each new month in the Islamic calendar starts on the new moon. Which means the month of Ramadan starts on the new moon. Simple enough, right? If it's been a while since your high school astronomy class, here's a reminder of what the phases of the moon look like:.

Back in Mohammed's day, in sixth-century Arabia, astronomical calculations weren't as precise as they are today, so people went by what they could see with the naked eye. Since the new moon isn't actually super visible in the night sky as you can see above , Muslims traditionally waited to start fasting until the small sliver of crescent moon became visible. There's even a saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammed about waiting to start the fast until you see the crescent.

Some people think this is why the star and crescent is the symbol of Islam, but the crescent was used as a symbol long before Islam.