MUSLIM FAMILIES CELEBRATE RAMADAN'S END.(RELIGION)

Byline: AZRA HAQQIE Staff writer

After fasting during Ramadan, Muslims will have a festive and solemn celebration this weekend with prayers, gift-giving and feasting.

The 500 Muslim families in the Capital Region include immigrants and students who fondly recall this holiday in their native countries. Ramadan began Jan. 10 and ends Sunday.

Erol Cebeci, originally from Turkey and a Ph.D. candidate in managerial economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, has been in this country almost 10 years.

During his first years in the United States, Cebeci said, Eidul Fitr -- the celebration that follows the fasting period -- was difficult …