eid mubarak

EID MUBARAK!

What does that mean? It means Happy Eid. Eid is the name of an Islamic holiday. There are two Eids every year. This Eid, more specifically called Eid ul Fitr (which means Festival of the Fast Breaking), marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, the sighting of the crescent moon marks the end of Ramadan, and the beginning of Eid.

Many Muslims send Eid greetings by phone, text messages, emails, or even in person. Above is an egreeting card. This Eid Greeting card shows a picture of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The square black structure in the middle is called the Ka'bah (which means Cube). It is made of bricks and covered with a black cloth that is specially made for it. This was originally built by Abraham and his son. When Muslims pray, they face in the direction of the Ka'bah. And in this picture, all of those little dots are actually people praying. This card also has "Eid Mubarak" written in English (on the left) and Arabic (on the right, which I can actually read...yay!).

There is a special prayer on the morning of the first day of Eid. There are often so many people that Muslims may congregate in large places or even outside to pray. There's also a special sermon that reflects on the past month of Ramadan and encourages Muslims to continue their prayers and good deeds throughout the year. This picture shows Muslim women in Egypt during the special Eid prayer.

Muslims all around the world hold special parties and festivities for the three days of Eid. They wear new clothing bought for this special holiday. A lot of women like to draw henna designs on their hands (see picture above). Children receive gifts and chocolates. Muslims visit their family and friends on these special days. And there's a lot of tasty food and sweets prepared.

Muslims are to give a yearly charity of 2.5% of any wealth that they've had for a year's time (example, if I have been saving money for a whole year, I would give 2.5% of that money to the poor). A lot of Muslims like to give this charity near the end of Ramadan so that the needy may be able to buy food and clothing to celebrate Eid (it's similar to the spirit of giving during Christmas, so that those who are in need can enjoy the holidays too). I personally love this practice.

When I was living in America, I would buy special new clothes for Eid, often times draw henna (I love the designs!), prepare some food, and go to the Islamic Center in my city to celebrate with the Muslim community. We would invite the local news and newspaper to come and cover the holiday. I was even interviewed for an article one year. We would have all kinds of tasty food and children were given gifts. I always enjoyed it.

Here in Saudi, we also buy new clothes for Eid. We wake up early and go to visit A LOT of relatives. We also eat a lot of food. Lamb is always prepared on Eid in Saudi. A lot of people go home to nap in the afternoon (most people don't sleep the night before), and then go to parties in the evening. Children receive all kinds of gifts. This year my son received a lot of money and goodie bags. We made goodie bags for him to give to all of his cousins (I love making goodie bags!).

So there's my little story of Eid for you. Wishing you lots of peace, joy, and blessings. :-)