Source: The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/21/AR2006102100334.html
Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, is drawing to a close. But for many Iraqis, it never really began. One by one, 1,000-year-old rituals have fallen by the wayside this year, lost to the sectarian violence that has paralyzed this city.
There was majinah , an Iraqi version of trick-or-treat. Cloistered in their homes this year, most children were too scared to play the ancient game.
And the damams , drummers who serve as human alarm clocks, waking the neighborhood for a meal before the day-long Ramadan fast begins. The streets are no longer safe for them, either.
And mehebbes , the Iraqi national pastime played only during the holy month, in which two neighborhood teams compete long past midnight to divine the location of a tiny ring. Most matches were canceled because of a four-month-old curfew.