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Eid: Celebration for the Young and Old
By Mohamed Osama*
The word Eid is an Arabic name to mean a
festivity, a celebration, a recurring happiness, and a feast. In
Islam, there are two major Eids namely "Eid al-Fitr"
(Festival of Breaking the Fast) celebrating the end of Ramadan and
"Eid al-Adha" (Festival of Sacrifice) which coincides
with the Hajj and commemorates prophet Abraham’s sacrifice of a
sheep in place of prophet Ishmael.
Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims after fasting the month of
Ramadan as a matter of thanks and gratitude to Almighty Allah. It
takes place on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the
lunar calendar (1). Eid al-Fitr is a happy celebration
with new clothes, gifts, and plenty of good food. Though
technically, Eid al-Fitr is one day, Eid festivities usually last
three days in Egypt with vacations for schools, universities and
government offices. Some stores and restaurants are closed during
Eid, too.
The Eid day starts with a small snack followed by Eid Prayers (Salat
al-Eid) in congregation attended by men, women and children.
Afterwards neighbors, friends and relatives start greeting each
other. The most common greeting is "Eid Mubarak" (Have a
blessed Eid). Children are normally given gifts, which
traditionally are new clothes to wear throughout the Eid. Also,
women (particularly mothers, wives, sisters and daughters) are
commonly given special gifts by their loved ones.
It is customary for children to also receive a
"Eidyah" from their grown-up relatives. This is a small
sum of money that the children receive, to spend on all their
activities throughout the Eid. Children wear their new clothes and
go out to amusement parks, gardens or public courtyards based on
how much their Eidyah affords. The amusement parks can range from
the huge ones on the outskirts of Cairo to small mobile
neighborhood rides consisting of swings, much like a neighborhood
carnival. In a lot of neighborhood courtyards, kids also gather
around a storyteller, a puppeteer or a magician mesmerized by
Egyptian folktales or by a grownup’s sleight of hand. It is also
customary for kids to rent decorated bikes to ride around town.
Eid is a time for family gatherings and since a
lot of Egyptian city dwellers are first or second generation
immigrants from towns and villages, those gatherings can involve
travelling and thus it is the busiest time of the year for
highways and trains. Since most Egyptians live in close proximity
to the Nile, felucca Nile rides is one common feature of Eid
celebration in Egyptian villages, towns and cities. For a lot of
families from working neighborhoods, Eid celebration also includes
picnics in green areas including parks, zoos, botanical gardens
and even green islands on major roads.
The families gatherings involve cooking and
eating all kinds of Egyptian food but the item most associated
with Eid al-Fitr are Kahk (2) (singuler=Kahka) which
are cookies filled with nuts and covered with sugar powder.
Egyptians either bake it at home or buy it in the bakery. Thus, a
bakery crowded in the last few days of Ramadan with Kahk buyers is
a common scene. TV in Egypt celebrates Eid, too, with a continous
marathon of movies as well as programs featuring live interviews
from all over Egypt of both public figures and everyday citizens,
sharing their Eid celebrations.
So if your Egypt visit coincides with Eid, you
can either share with Egyptians their celebrations or catch-up on
your shopping by benefiting from Cairo’s and Alexandria’s
commercial districts’ least crowded days of the year.
* The author is a grown-up who still longs for
his Eid days as a child.
First US Postal Eid Stamp to be released to the
public in October 2001
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