Ramadan traditions in Morocco: the fast, the nights and Eid al-Fitr

In Morocco, Ramadan is a month of fasting by day and of family, prayer and late nights after dark. Families eat a light meal before dawn, break the fast together at sunset with the ftour and fill the mosques for the long night prayers; the month builds up to the 27th night, when children who fast for the first time are celebrated, and ends with Eid al-Fitr. In 2027, Ramadan is expected from about 8 February to 9 March.

Here is what the month means and what you will see and hear. What changes for your trip, from meals and opening hours to alcohol and transport, is in our practical guide to visiting Morocco during Ramadan.

What Ramadan is, in short

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, the month in which, according to the Qur'an, its revelation began. Fasting during it is one of the five pillars of Islam: from dawn to sunset, Muslims who are able to fast take no food, no drink (not even water), no cigarettes and no sex. Moroccans hold the month in such respect that they often call it Sidna Ramadan, roughly "our lord Ramadan".

Not everyone fasts. Children are not expected to before puberty; the sick and travellers make up the days later, as the Qur'an allows; pregnant or breastfeeding women who fear for their health, and women during their period, are exempt too.

The Islamic year follows the moon, so Ramadan starts about 11 days earlier every year. Morocco relies on its own sighting of the new crescent: on the evening of the 29th day of the month before, the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs gathers the reports of its observers across the country and announces whether the fast begins the next day. In 2026, Ramadan began on Thursday 19 February in Morocco, a day after Saudi Arabia, and lasted 29 days, with Eid al-Fitr on Friday 20 March.

	Expected in 2027
First day of fasting	Monday 8 February
The 27th night (Laylat al-Qadr)	Evening of Friday 5 March (our estimate)
Eid al-Fitr	Wednesday 10 March

Most of the month falls in February: our guide to Morocco in February covers the weather and everything else going on then. How Islam shapes daily life the rest of the year, from the call to prayer to the mosques you can visit, is in our guide to Islam in Morocco.

A Ramadan day in a Moroccan town

Before dawn: the shour and the nafar

The day starts in the dark with the shour, a light meal eaten before the dawn prayer: bread, milk, yoghurt, sometimes a barley soup. For generations, families in the old medinas have been woken for it by the nafar (also spelt neffar), a man who walks the lanes in a djellaba and red tarbouche, blowing a long brass horn, sometimes with a drummer at his side. The role is seasonal: he appears for Ramadan, disappears as soon as Eid is announced, and families thank him at the end of the month with a few coins or a small gift.

Alarm clocks and phones have made him rare, but the custom survives in parts of the old medinas of Fes, Marrakech, Rabat and Salé. In Taroudant, the nafar still climbs the minaret of his mosque during the month, and also sounds his horn when the night prayers end. If your riad is in an old medina, you may hear him in the small hours.

Daytime: quiet mornings, busy afternoons

Mornings are quiet, and many shops open later than usual. The town wakes up in the afternoon, when people go out for bread, dates and msemen for the evening. Pastry shops pile up chebakia, the flower-shaped Ramadan biscuit fried and soaked in honey, and many families make their own at home, along with sellou, a mix of toasted flour, almonds and sesame. In the last hour before sunset, bakeries are packed and everyone hurries home.

Sunset: the ftour

For a few minutes around sunset, the streets empty almost completely. The call to the maghrib prayer, and in some towns a siren, marks the end of the fast. Families break it together with dates and milk or water, then harira, the tomato, lentil and chickpea soup that opens the ftour. What else is on the table, from boiled eggs to baghrir, is described in our guide to the Moroccan breakfast.

After dark: tarawih and late nights

After the last prayer of the day come the tarawih, long extra prayers in which large parts of the Qur'an are recited. The big mosques overflow and rows of worshippers on prayer mats continue outside: thousands pray on the esplanade of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca every evening, and in Marrakech the faithful gather around the Koutoubia. Walk around the rows, never across them, and don't photograph people at prayer.

Then towns stay up late. Families visit relatives and watch the Ramadan television series together, and the cafés and squares fill; in Marrakech, Jemaa el-Fna is busy until well after midnight.

Laylat al-Qadr, the 27th night

Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Destiny (or of Power), commemorates the night the revelation of the Qur'an began, a night the Qur'an calls "better than a thousand months". It falls on one of the last ten nights of Ramadan, and most Moroccans observe it on the 27th: the night between the 26th and 27th days of the fast. In 2026, that was the evening of 16 March; in 2027, if Ramadan begins on 8 February, it should be the evening of Friday 5 March.

It is the most fervent night of the month, and mosques stay full until dawn. At home, families burn incense, which the souks sell in heaps in the days before, as in our cover photo. After the prayers, families gather over a couscous, often with seven vegetables, and share it with neighbours or send some to the mosque.

Children's first fast

It is also the children's night. Many Moroccan children try their first full day of fasting on the 27th, and families celebrate it almost like a small wedding:

• Girls wear a caftan or takchita and have their hands decorated with henna; some are dressed and crowned like little brides by a negafa, the woman who prepares brides, and carried on an amaria, the bridal chair.
• Boys wear a djellaba or jabador, a red tarbouche and yellow balgha slippers, and some ride a decorated horse.
• Breaking the fast: the child starts with dates and milk, often with a boiled egg; in some families, at the top of a wooden ladder, a sign of rising closer to God.
• Photos and gifts: photo studios are full that evening, and children receive small gifts or a little money.

The clothes themselves are explained in our guide to traditional Moroccan clothing.

Giving: zakat al-fitr and shared ftours

Generosity is part of the fast. Before Eid, every Muslim who fasts pays zakat al-fitr, a set alms, for himself and for everyone in his care, so that poor families can celebrate too. Morocco's Superior Council of Ulemas sets the amount each year: for 2026 it was 25 dirhams (about €2.30) per person, the value of about 2.5 kg of grain, paid in kind or in cash up to three days before Eid, and anyone may give more. The 2027 amount will be announced near the end of the month.

Every Ramadan, the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity hands out food baskets of flour, oil, sugar, lentils and tea: in 2026, its 28th national operation reached about 4.36 million people. The Royal Guard serves ftour meals to families in need in several cities, Marrakech among them, and associations bring the evening meal to homeless people.

Eid al-Fitr: the end of the fast

On the evening of the 29th day, observers look for the new crescent again: if it is seen, the next day is Eid al-Fitr; if not, the fast lasts 30 days. Moroccans call it l-Eid sghir, the small Eid, and it brings two days of public holiday.

• Prayer: the day begins shortly after sunrise with the Eid prayer, in a mosque or at the msalla, an open-air prayer ground.
• New clothes: children get new outfits, many parents' first priority of the season, and adults wear their best djellaba, jabador or caftan; tailors work late into the night before.
• A sweet breakfast: no more harira. The table has msemen, baghrir with honey, pastries and mint tea.
• Visits: the young visit their elders first, neighbours exchange plates of pastries and children collect a little money from relatives. People greet each other with "Eid mubarak" or the Moroccan awashrkum mebrouka.

On Eid morning, most shops close and even taxis are rare, and buses and trains are full in the days before and after. Eid al-Fitr 2027 is expected on Wednesday 10 March, and our guide to Morocco in March covers the rest of that month. The other great feast, Eid al-Adha, follows about ten weeks later, and every date of the year is in our Moroccan festivals calendar.

Being a good guest during Ramadan

Visitors who are not Muslim are not expected to fast. Eat, drink and smoke discreetly during the day, away from the street, and be patient in the late afternoon, when people are tired. Wish people "Ramadan mubarak" or "Ramadan karim"; a few more useful words are in our Moroccan Arabic phrases. If a family invites you to share the ftour, it is a real honour: accept warmly, arrive before sunset and bring dates or pastries. The rest of local manners is in our guide to Morocco etiquette.

Curious about what you see in the streets? On a private guided tour of Marrakech, your guide can explain the customs as you walk through the medina; ask us on WhatsApp about your dates.