Eid Al-Fitr is here and Muslims around the world are all celebrating the breaking of their fast. After a month of intense fasting and spirituality, the Eid is a time to eat our weight in Ma’amoul and bond with our extended families. The three-day-holiday is spent differently across the Islamic world and Palestine surely doesn’t miss out on the celebrations. If you are a Palestinian, then here are 10 Eid traditions you will definitely recognize.
- Making Ma’amoul with your Family: The homemade cookies are considered one of the main traditions for the Eid. And if you tried to convince your mother to just buy Ma’amoul or sweets at the pastry store you’ll probably be faced with “Eid is not an Eid without Ma’amoul.”
- Shopping for new Eid clothes: Here in Palestine, we shop till we drop. If it’s Eid everyone goes around buying new clothes and kids get to buy clothes for the first two days of the Eid.
- Cleaning your house even if it’s perfectly clean: It doesn’t matter if you cleaned the house a day before, if it’s Eid you clean every piece down to the smallest thing again.
- Giving Zakat Al- Fitr to the poor and the needy. Zakat or Sadaqat Al-Fitr is wajib (required) of every Muslim, whether male or female, minor or adult as long as he/she has the means to do so. It has to be given to the poor before Eid Al-Fitr Prayer, so they can enjoy the Eid too.
- Praying the Fajr and then the Eid Prayer in huge gatherings while calling takbirat Al- Eid.
- Eating fried Fesikh, dried, salted fish, for breakfast: This Egyptian dish has become a must for most Palestinian families on the first day of Eid Al-Fitr.
- Visiting your extended families: Eid is the time of the year where you’ll meet with distant cousins you have never seen before.
- Drinking traditional Arabic Eid coffee in small special cups and eating Ma’amoul and Chocolate in every house you visit. You know that it’s rude to say “no, thank you” and so you’ll eat and drink every time, by the end of the day you’ll be bloated.
- Saying “Eid Mubarak,” Blessed Eid, “Eid Saeed,” Happy Eid, or “kol saneh ou enta salim,” every year with your health, to everyone and anyone you pass.
- Giving money and toy gifts to kids. For the kids, and even for some grown-ups, the Eid is all about getting the Eideyah, which is the Eid money you get from your close relatives, such as your aunts and uncles.
Palestinians make the best of the Eid holiday spending it around family and food!
Let us know how your country celebrates the Eid. Don’t forget to share and leave a smile 🙂 !
