The venue for our Eid al-Fitr 2021BBQ Special
Those who know me well will know that I love a BBQ and the chance to eat Lamb Chops and Beef steak was too good an opportunity to miss! As I now no longer have a garden we decided to head to the 28th floor roof top restaurant at the Wyndham Garden Hotel here in Juffair.
So what is Eid? Why are there two Eids? When are they?
Our friends at Wikipedia tell us that:
"Eid al-Fitr (/iːd əl ˈfɪtər/ eed əl FIT-ər; Arabic: عيد الفطر ʻĪd al-Fiṭr, IPA: [ʕiːd al fitˤr]),[4] also called the "Festival of Breaking the Fast" or Lesser Eid, or simply Eid,[5] is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan.[6] This religious Eid is the only day in the month of Shawwal during which Muslims are not permitted to fast. The date for the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on when the new moon is sighted by local religious authorities, so the day of celebration varies by locality. The holiday is known under various other names in different languages and countries around the world."
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Fitr ( accessed 10.5.21)
Eid al-Fitr is on 13- 15 May this year.
The second Eid, Eid al- Adha, is on July 19- 21 this year.
"Eid al-Adha, also known as Eid-e-Ghorban, Bakra Eid, Kurban Bayrami, Bakrid, Hari Raya Haji, and Big Eid, is the latter of the two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide each year. It honours the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of obedience to God's command. "
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha ( accessed 10.5.21)
Now I can hear Mr. G in Paris saying "Assez de wikepedia, racontez-nous vos histoires"(Enough of the Wikipedia, tell us your stories) so here is the bit where I tell you what it's like to experience Eid in the Middle East based on my 11 years here in Bahrain.
Hurray- the fasting is over, let's party!
In the last two weeks of Ramadan people start preparing for Eid. The Malls stay open until 2 am ( I will still never get used to seeing babies pushed around shopping at 2 am ) , all the shops have sales, and the Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Kareem signs give way to Eid Mubarak. Little girls ( or rather their mums) go and buy pretty dresses, Little boys get new trainers and cute shorts and tee shirts ( matching if they have brothers) and people like Corleen are kept very busy designing dresses for those with too much money.
Corleen announced on his Facebook the night before Eid that his "Ready-to-wear Eid collection Sold-out! More than a month jud ang broken time sa duty"
Well done Kuya!
The restaurant staff relaxed as they can go back to morning shift instead of working through the night every night , and everyone looks forward to going out to eat breakfast and lunch at their favourite restaurant ( prohibited during Ramadan).
The young guys were out playing volleyball at 7 am near my apartment and the young man was practicing his cricket with his dad... everyone was out early enjoying themselves on the first day of Eid!
For the poor people who have yet to retire like me there are three days holiday, and as Eid al-Fitr falls on a weekend this year they will get two lieu days after making a week long holiday.
Sadly the Saudi Causeway will not open until after Eid, but when it does it will
"add 'billions' to Bahrain economy" according to a piece in Arabian Business which reports that “Prior to the pandemic, Bahrain welcomed around 11 million tourists with over 88% coming through the Causeway."
 |  |
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
No comments:
Post a Comment