Regarding: "In spring and summer months, those daylight hours of fasting must seem endless! Granted, there is typically a grand meal after sundown, called an iftar, but people are really hungry at that point, not having eaten all day long."
- Christian fasting that occurs when daily caloric intake is much less than usually required by a person for at least a 24 hour period and typically the food that is consumed is more basic than usual. Then there is fasting which means that there is a delay in consuming the days caloric requirements until a set time an evening during Ramadan.
- Typically, the fast at the end of a Ramadan day is the second type of fast -- delaying the usual caloric intake until sun sets (a predawn snack is ok for some). As with Christians the degree of fasting is mitigated for those who have to do manual labor in the physically trying circumstances -- such as when harvest falls during Ramadan. It is also mitigated for pregnant women and women who lactating.