The Cannon that Shoots at Ramadan

JerusalemIsrael

The "Ramadan Cannon" is a cannon stationed in the "Al Mujahadin" Muslim graveyard located on a hill at Salah-al-Din Street. The firing of the cannon marks the beginning and end of the Ramadan fast. Some claim that the tradition of firing the cannon in Ramadan began in the Mamluk period, when a Mamluk sultan received a cannon as a gift and decided to fire it to mark the beginning of the fast. The custom arrived in our region at the end of the 19th century, during the Ottoman period.

The current cannon is a British 18-liter cannon with a thickness of 8 cm. Its barrel is about 2.5 meters long and it is about 2 meters wide. This type of cannon was a standard field cannon in the British Army during World War I. After it fell out of use, the British Mandate authorities gave it as a gift to the Arabs In honor of Ramadan. 

The responsibility for firing the cannon in Jerusalem was given to Hajj Amin Tsanduka from the Ottomans. The position was continued to be filled by his son Yahya, and today the person responsible for the shooting is Rajai Sanduka (رجعي سندوكة), a third generation gunner. According to him, the use of cannons to mark the Ramadan fast was common in most Palestinian cities until the 1980s. Today, only the Jerusalem cannon remains (who these days really needs a cannon shot to know when the fast begins?). The ammunition to operate the canon is received from the Israeli authorities every day during the month of Ramadan, while Israeli security officials are monitoring the cemetery to make sure that shells are indeed used to fire the cannon...

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(Anecdote authored by: דניאל)

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