After a month of fasting, praying and spiritual awakening, Muslims all over the world celebrate Eid El Fitr.
Eid is a word derived from the Arabic word yaood, meaning returns, and El Fitr, means the breaking of the fast. It is called the Eid because at the end of Ramadan, people celebrate the return of the normal day’s schedule.
To ensure an exciting Eid morning for children, parents should spend the night before decorating the house and preparing the kahk, an assortment of traditional Egyptian cookies.
In keeping with Islamic tradition, Eid begins as soon as the dawn breaks with the fajr prayer. When the call to prayer is heard, Muslims are urged to eat something, preferably date and milk, which is what Prophet Mohamed ate for breakfast on the first day of Eid. This tradition is to remind everyone of the blessing of being able to eat in the daytime after a month of abstaining from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.
After the morning prayers, the day starts rolling. First, it is tradition that everyone wears their best, usually new clothes and then leave as a family to the nearest outdoor praying area set up especially for the Eid prayers. The streets are bustling with people as the sounds of prayers from the loudspeakers echo through the morning skies, saying “God is Great, God is Great, there is no God but Allah. God is Great, God is Great, and to him we give thanks.
Gathering for the Eid prayer is exciting as children receive gifts and adults socialize with friends, family and neighbors at the neighborhood mosque.
After the Eid prayers, families gather for an elaborate breakfast, which can include traditional Egyptian dishes, like fuul, eggs, cheese and different kinds of drinks. Some families opt for salted fish and herring.
Islam teachings stress the importance of family ties and community closeness so it is a tradition to visit close family members after breakfast before heading home to rest and relax until the afternoon.
The family then gets together again for lunch, which is traditionally a delicious seafood spread. Most people try not to eat seafood during the fasting month because it can leave you thirsty and hungry the next day. So after a fish-free month, people feast on a seafood meal because they know they can have as much water as they want the next day. And that is the joy of Eid El-Fitr.
