A beloved community event goes online: “until i pass the time until sundown...”

“MABELLE Iftar Nights is an annual intercultural festival which marks the holy month of Ramadan. Over the years, hundreds of neighbours have come together to make and mark this important time in our community. This year, in partnership with the Aga Khan Museum, we will be gathering with community participants from Mabelle Ave, Thorncliffe Park and Ismaili Toronto to celebrate Ramadan together.

This year we’ve had to move our beloved community event to a digital platform. Together with a team of over 30 artists, we’ve created a month-long, intercultural community arts festival that weaves together music, puppetry, illustration, audio art and community voices to tell the story of a MABELLE Iftar Night that can can be experienced in your own homes. Along the way, there are numerous opportunities to join in and help us tell this story. ” - MABELLEarts

Sound-Making & Storytelling Workshops: Over the course of 6 weeks MABELLEarts, in partnership with the Aga Khan Museum, curated 6 workshops among the Thorncliffe and Mabelle Ave. community. Imagining Iftar Workshops seek to develop artistic themes that ground the project’s development research on practices and traditions relate to Iftar around the Muslim world and in the Muslim Diaspora.

MABELLE Virtual Iftar Nights is produced by MABELLEarts Completed Project & Digital Gallery: Click Here Watch and Listen to all Virtual Iftar Night videos on VIMEO: Click here

Act 1 Arrival: This is the first Act of Virtual Iftar Nights, and shares experiences of preparing for Iftar and arriving at Mabelle Park for the annual community Iftar celebration. Our Arrival activity invited people to remember or imagine their own experiences of preparations and arrival, through recorded individual and group conversations and creative activities. (April 27, 2020)

Act 2 Waiting: In Mabelle Park people wait until the sun sets and they break their fast. In our own homes these days we are passing our time, awaiting sundown and the times when we can go out and gather with other people again. Our activity for this act involved sharing our present experiences of waiting, and asking people to complete the sentence: “As I pass the time until sundown…”. (April 30, 2020)

Act 3 Gathering: As sunset approaches in the Mabelle Park, people are gathering with colourful hand-made flags. For this activity, we invited illustrator Benafsheh Erfanian to create a flag colouring sheet. People were invited to colour in the top and bottom flags and design their own in the middle, representing some of the things they are doing to pass the present time. (May 4, 2020)

Act 4 Procession: As sunset approaches, people, friends and families of all ages process through Mabelle Park and around the neighbourhood, holding home-made flags and lanterns. For this activity, we asked people to create and document mini processions, using objects from around their homes. (May 7, 2020)

Act 5 Centering: The procession returns to Mabelle Park. People come together and settle down on picnic blankets for a time of shared contemplation, prayer and gratitude in the final moments leading up to sunset. For this activity, we invited guest choreographers – Penny and Animikiikwe Couchie from Aanmitaagzi at Nipissing First Nation to teach us some hand dancing. (May 11, 2020)

Act 6 Invoking: While the sun sets in Mabelle Park, lanterns rise and are lit, signifying that it is nearly time to break the fast. We prepare to hear the Azan (Call To Prayer) recited, which will signal the breaking of the fast (Iftar). Our activity for this act involved learning a lantern song, composed by Hussein from words by a Mabelle youth, and with other groups from Toronto. (May 14, 2020)

Act 7 Nourishment: A meal is served at sundown: samosas, fatayer, rice pudding. As the light leaves the sky, neighbours and families eat together on coloured blankets under the trees. Our activity for this act involved sharing, trying, enjoying and photographing favourite Iftar recipes contributed by the Mabelle Ladies Cooking Circle. (May 18, 2020)

Act 8 Circling: At the end of the evening, neighbours circle in around the fire to share songs and stories. Our last activity invites people to reflect on what they have enjoyed from this Virtual community arts event and what more they might wish for over the coming months. (May 21, 2020)

This project is made possible by:

Artistic Director & Composer: Hussein Janmohamed Artistic Producer: Shifra Cooper Project Coordinators: Christen Kong & Irene Flatley Podcast Creator: Christen Kong Music Editor: Arie van de VenAdditional Musical Arrangements: Maryem Tollar, Ernie Tollar, Waleed Abdulhamid, Samidha JoglekarIllustration: Banafsheh ErfanianShadow Puppetry: Shadowland Theatre (Anne Barber, Sequoia Erickson, Brad Harley)Artmaking Activities: Jumblies Theatre & ArtsRecipe Creation: Joshna Maharaj & The Mabelle Ladies Cooking CircleVideo Editor: Adrienne Marcus-RajaActivity Facilitators: Sharada Eswar, Michael Burtt, Melanie Fernandez-Alvares, Tijana Spasic, Sam Rowlandson-O’HaraMABELLEyouth Leaders: Rafia Abdalla, Nuha Johar, Nada Johar, Remaz Salam, Tasmeen Syed, Hodan Ibrahim, Nura Nurhussen, Nada Nurhussen

Musicians: Waleed Abdulhamid, Shireen Abu-Khader, Shaho Andalibi, Bo Bardos, Daev Clysdale, Sharada Eswar, Hussein Janmohamed, Samidha Joglekar, Sam Rowlandson-O’Hara, Ernie Tollar, Maryem Tollar, Jackson Welchner, Martin van de Ven, The Gather Round Singers (conducted by Shifra Cooper), Guelph Chamber Choir, Raise Her Voice Chamber Choir (Oakville Choir for Children and Youth), Sarv Choir

Guest Artists: Penny Couchie, Animikiikwe Couchie, Faten Toubasi, Tamyka Bullen, Latasha Lennox, Oshan Starreveld, Karis Jones Pard, Sam Egan Community Workshop Facilitators: Leah Houston, Hussein Janmohamed, Christen Kong, Banafsheh Erfanian

Visit the Virtual Gallery for full list of Community Contributors.