Breaking Fast

I had forgotten to bring back the mini cupcakes I bought for this weekends’ family birthday celebration which I left in the office fridge. Luckily for me, my Malay colleague was able to pass them to me at the mrt station on her way home. She was in fact rushing back for breaking fast with friends and told me not to be late.

When I saw her message, I was wondering why “breakfast” when it’s dinner time. So this probe my curiousity to find out if “breakfast” actually associated with Muslim’s breaking of fast.

extracted from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/breakfast

Word Origin & History

breakfast
mid-15c., from break (v.) + fast (n.). The verb is recorded from 1670s. The Sp. almuerzo “lunch,” but formerly and still locally “breakfast,” is from L. admorsus, pp. of admordere “to bite into,” from ad- “to” + mordere “to bite.” Like almuerzo, words for “breakfast” tend over time to shift in meaning toward “lunch;” cf. Fr. déjeuner “breakfast,” later “lunch” (equivalent of Sp. desayuno “breakfast”), both from V.L. *disieiunare “to breakfast,” from L. dis- + ieiunare, jejunare “fast” (see jejune; also cf. dine).

I didn’t know that there are people who are also searching for the origin of this word. 😀
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/breakfast

Nevertheless, the first intake of something after a long night without food is considered a break of the ‘fast’. Ok, you don’t have to agree with me, and it doesn’t really matter right? 😉

As for this breaking of fast, all along I thought it’s something tradition to do it only with own family members. So when my Malay colleague said she was going to meet her friends for that, I was quite surprised … and envy. Envy because of the kind of cohesion in them. They make sure none was late for such a dinner.

Being a Chinese, I always see people choose to be late attending a wedding dinner, and still ‘shamelessly’ said it’s ‘tradition’ to be late. How can being late be tradition, I just cannot understand. It’s just a bad habit to say.

And sometimes, when you had arranged a dinner with some people, despites fixing it at a later hour, some could still be late knowing the travelling time from where they were to the destination. If only everyone treat each dinner gathering as important as any important occasion.

Ok enough of the dinner thingy, it’s making me hungry now as I have yet to have my dinner. 😀

As Muslims are going to celebrate their Hari Raya Puasa tomorrow, I hereby wishing all Muslims Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! 🙂