Fasting

When Adam Burpee’s high school football teammates rush to nearby water coolers in the afternoon heat, he watches and waits. On a normal day, in a normal month of his senior season, the 17-year-old would take the opportunity to hydrate, but with the Muslim holy month of fasting underway, he won’t have any food or drink until after sundown — at least two hours after the end of his practices. It’s not easy, he said, especially with August and September temperatures that have often crept up to triple-digit levels.

GLENDALE — Sundown on Friday marked the beginning of Ramadan, a time when Muslims worldwide will begin a month of prayer and fasting. The occasion in part celebrates the time when the Qur'an was believed to be revealed from God to the prophet Muhammad and is also the ninth month in the lunar calendar. During the month many Muslims will refrain from eating and drinking during the daylight hours and will partake in extended prayer sessions at their local mosque, said Edina Lekovic, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Southern California.

Marshall Allen GLENDALE -- On Saturday, the Muslim community in Glendale and around the world, will begin the month-long celebration of Ramadan. It's a time of spiritual purification and community celebration. Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar when Muslims abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures every day from the break of dawn until sunset. The fast is performed to learn discipline, self restraint and generosity while obeying God's commandments.

As Jews around the globe end a 48-hour Rosh Hashanah celebration today, ringing in the new year 5766, Muslims worldwide begin a monthlong journey of fasting and prayer for the holy month of Ramadan. "It's one of the most sacred Jewish holidays," said Judith Harris, who attended Rosh Hashanah services at Glendale's Temple Sinai Tuesday morning. "It's a very important holiday and I'm a very spiritual, religious person, and the holidays are important to me."

Christian and Jewish faithful will begin to observe their respective holy days, with observances of Lent, Purim and Passover taking place all over the world. What does the Bible teach us about entering these holy days with a sense of prayer?   Pray first, then take action. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, advised: “Go first to God, then to man as God directs.” The advice is simple: Pray first, before you do anything in the outer. The pattern of praying first before acting can be found in the Bible.

Marshall Allen GLENDALE -- Lent can be a life-changing time of spiritual discipline and preparation for the celebration of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, or it can be superficial tradition. Christian have observed the season of Lent -- the 40-day period of fasting and repentance between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday -- for more than 1,600 years. As a part of Lent, Christians are encouraged to practice three spiritual disciplines: fasting, giving alms and praying, said Father Joseph Shea of Holy Family Catholic Church.

Members of the La Cañada Flintridge Islamic Congregation greeted each other and community members warmly on Friday evening at the Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge. Since their first meeting in December 2006, the members of the congregation have reached out to the community to share information on their faith and to dispel misconceptions of who they are as Islamic Americans. On Friday they shared the meaning and the ceremony of Ramadan. This year from Sept. 1 to Sept.

As Jews around the globe end a 48-hour Rosh Hashanah celebration today, ringing in the new year 5766, Muslims worldwide begin a monthlong journey of fasting and prayer for the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims at the Islamic Relief Center in Burbank, and worldwide, are -- practicing self-control and reflection and giving to those less fortunate. "Ramadan is a month of mercy and a month of charity," said Arif Shaikh, spokesman for the center. "It's something where people are extremely charitable, and are really working on themselves to become better people."

SOUTH GLENDALE — Parishioners who left Holy Family Catholic Community Church Wednesday afternoon bore the first signs that the Lenten season has begun — a cross marked in ash on their foreheads that signifies to them that from ashes we come and to ashes we will return. Many Christians around the world, including Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans, started a regimen of fasting and charitable giving in preparation for Easter. "You just don't know it and then all of the sudden it's here," Glendale resident Krystal Alejo said as she left the church for her job in Burbank.

Hundreds of Catholics were marked with black ash on their foreheads during Wednesday’s Mass at Holy Family Catholic Church in observation of the first day of Lent. Ash Wednesday was one of several holy days observed during the 40 days of Lent, which gives Catholics the opportunity to renew their faith by practicing the act of giving, fasting and prayer before Easter. “All these three come as a package — you do all these or we fail,” Father Rene Cruz said during noon Mass.

One Burger King in Glendale wants its customers to have it their way - right to their front door. Since April 9, the Burger King on North Central Avenue has been delivering a handful of orders each day - the first Burger King in the state to do so, said franchise owner Bob Stevens. "We were chosen to be the first Burger King franchisee to have delivery in the state, so it's quite a feather in our cap," Stevens said. Following in the footsteps of delivery programs in Miami, Washington, D.C., and Houston, the fast-food company is bringing its delivery program to California.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - Arada Zakarian was glad to be back. His teammates were happy to see him on the court instead of on the bench. The Glendale High boys' basketball player returned to the Nitros starting lineup Saturday after missing part of the summer due to an ankle injury. His return allowed the Nitros to use a fastbreak attack that San Marino could not contain in the final game of the Flintridge Prep Tournament. Zakarian was one of three Nitros to score nine points - along with Arthur Terzyan and Steve Arakelyan - and Vahe Aristakessian had a game-high 15 points to lead Glendale to a 64-45 victory at Flintridge Prep.

In the July 1 article, “Krikorian shrugs off cash woes,” the Republican candidate in the 43rd District calls the filing of bankruptcy to discharge credit card debt, “the last resort of trying to handle it.” A self-proclaimed “business conservative” should know better. Krikorian pulled a fast one on creditors. I don't want to see him pull a fast one on taxpayers in November. Greg Krikorian, please do us a favor and withdraw from the race. Jaime Rojas Glendale

LA CRESCENTA - The members of the Crescenta Valley High boys' volleyball team looked for a quick start when they faced Glendale in the first of two head-to-head meetings this season. The Falcons got precisely that en route to a dominant 25-12, 25-9, 25-21 Pacific League home win Wednesday afternoon. Crescenta Valley (10-5, 4-2 in league) wasted no time getting started against Glendale (1-7, 1-5). The Falcons raced to an 8-0 lead in the first game and the Nitros didn't hold their first lead until early in the third game.

Watching and wondering for months, I was thrilled when the doors to the new Cafe Lanka finally opened last weekend. Could it be Sri Lankan food? Yes, it is, but with an American twist. Sri Lanka has always held a strange fascination for me. Everyone I've ever met from there has been preternaturally happy and disarmingly good-looking. I imagine it as an exotic place with interesting food. An island nation at the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka is host to a cuisine that is influenced by native foods like coconut and cinnamon but also by the cuisines of neighboring countries (India, Thailand)

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE - Muir High boys' basketball Coach Gamal Smalley wasn't up for a repeat performance Friday night when the Mustangs met Glendale in a Pacific League road contest. This time around, Muir built a big enough lead and held off a late Nitro rally to earn a 66-54 Pacific League victory. "We know Glendale always has some great shooters and you have to respect their shooters because they can always come back," said Smalley, who cited Glendale overcoming a 13-point second-half deficit last season to knock off the Mustangs, who were then the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division V-AA.

LA CRESCENTA - The Crescenta Valley High boys' basketball team was able to beat Glendale High at its own game in both squads' Pacific League opener Tuesday night. Glendale Coach Steve Snodgress said his team came out looking to push the ball up and down the floor to try to mitigate the clear size advantage the Falcons had. It didn't quite play out the way he hoped, as CV pulled out the 69-50 victory on its home court. "Surprisingly, I thought we half-court defended really well and that's what we were worried about most," said Snodgress, who only has two players 6-foot-1 or taller in his starting lineup.

John Naber is 55 and Louis Zamperini will be 95 in January, but they have two significant things in common: Both were Olympians and both were  USC Trojans . And that is enough. Naber, who lives in Pasadena, was a USC swimming star who won five medals - four of them gold - at the Montreal Olympics  in 1976. Zamperini, who lives in the Hollywood Hills, was a track phenom at USC. And though he didn't win an Olympic medal, folded on a table in his living room is a swastika flag he tore from a wall and took home as a souvenir from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

BURBANK — While the Glendale High and Burbank boys' water polo teams have both posted winning records, they are on opposite sides of the spectrum in the Pacific League. The Nitros held a two-match lead against the Bulldogs entering Tuesday's league match at Burbank. Thanks to a big effort from Armand Momdzhyan, Glendale extended its lead. Momdzhyan finished with a match-best 10 goals to power Glendale to a 24-14 victory. Glendale, ranked No. 5 in CIF Southern Section Division V, improved to 13-7, 3-0 in league.

The recent arrest of 21-year-old Eric Petrossian in South Pasadena for the theft of Red Bull caused the city's police department to put out a bulletin, hoping to find whether there is a link between this crime and others in nearby cities involving this controversial drink popular with young adults, including my twenty-something daughter. “The stuff isn't good for you,“ I said to my daughter after she had stocked a few of the attractive red and royal blue cans in our refrigerator.