Thursday, October 2, 2008

My Eid...


My Eid..., originally uploaded by Rabujee.

Hope everyone had a happy, fun, blessed one! If there's one thing I love about Eid (and there isn't just one, there are many) its the fact that we make it such a colorful and pretty day =)

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*Edited because I didn't have the time to properly explain what Eid means when I first posted*

For anyone that's wondering what "Eid" is, its one of two annual holidays in the Islamic faith. The first which just passed, is a celebration at the end of the holy month of fasting (Ramadan) and its full name is "Eid-ul-Fitr." The meaning of this word is to celebrate the breaking of fasting...literally coming from "Eid" which means festivity and "Fitr" which means to break the fast.

Although, Eid begins the night of the last fast at sunset, its officially celebrated the next day. That night is spent in breaking the last fast, preparation of the next day, and then for girl's many get together with their friends, sisters, cousins...any female basically to apply henna on their hands and feet.

The morning of Eid starts with the family getting dressed in their best attire and going to the local Mosque for Eid prayer and "khutbah" (lecture). At the same time, we get to meet and greet with our neighbors and friends. After that most people have their own plans for the day: some spend their days visiting different friends and family to eat, drink, relax and conversate (is conversate a word? whatever...I'm too lazy to look it up). People also exchange gifts if they like or mostly elders in the family give children money (and I don't think there's any age limit on that hehe).

Spiritually, it should be a day to remember what you've done the past month while you were fasting and spending your time in prayer. And it should be a day to mark your accomplishments and to make sure you maintain that routine of prayer and remembrance of Allah in your life for the remainder of the year.

Also, its usually a 3 day celebration but for most Muslims living in non-Muslim countries the celebration is cut down to 1 day as most people have to return to work or school =( (especially for Eid's like the one that just passed which came in the middle of the week, on a Wednesday).


Oh and on this day, if you want to greet a Muslim with the proper greeting you can say "Eid Mubarak" or "Eid Sayeed" and if not, you can always say "Blessed/Happy Eid!" and it will all be one and the same. =)

The other Eid, "Eid ul Adha" , will be explained later when its time to celebrate it =). Sorry for the rather brief explanation, but if anyone has a question you can always ask by posting a comment =).

6 comments:

Farnnay said...

my eid have been really sucky for the past couple of years. i dont even remember what i like about eid anymore. =/

Artistic Logic said...

i can understand that but theres always some good you can extract out of it
u shud've taken a day off...do it next time or u'll feel bad again

Snake Charmer said...

i love all of the vibrant colors!!

Farnnay said...

I do believe the word you're looking for is converse? lol

And I'm glad you added the explanation. Thanks yo ;D

Artistic Logic said...

ahh yes converse ... lol

PerplxinTexan♥ said...

I forgot my shoes at home because I was all too eager to drive and listen to the music I so carefully avoided during Ramadan and was forced to walk around barefoot...yeah look at the irony in that.

BUT, I happened to dress more modest than my intended outfit opting for a floor length skirt with a train-like effect making it almost impossible to tell I didn't have on shoes....double irony?