Eid-Ul Fitr Introduction

 Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslim worldwide because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-dusk fasting of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr falls on the first day of Shawwal. Eid al-Fitr begins at sunset on the night of the first sighting of the crescent moon. Friends greet one another, presents are given, new clothes are worn, and the graves of relatives are visited.

Chand Raat:

The night on which the moon is sighted is celebrated as Chand Raat. Chaand Raat is a time of celebration when families and friends gather and ladies apply Hinna on hands. We used to wake up together in Pakistan on a Chand Raat night and we used to have a lot of fun, we used to put henna on each other’s hands, but here in Canada there was no such thing because there are a lot of different religious people living here and I didn’t even feel that it was Eid in the morning because there was no happiness, no joy, nothing at all and I still went to the parlor and put henna on my hands and my children and I were all very worried and sad because it was the first Eid of our life that we were going to spend without my family.

Day of Eid-ul-fitr:

Eid-ul-Fitr was on 10th of April. In Canada it’s not a public holiday so it doesn’t seems like Eid. On Eid day, it’s a traditional thing to make something sweet and when I used to live with my parents, my mother used to make Sheer Khurma at home, she used to make Pulao and other delicious food, but here I had to make it, I made Sheer Khurma and in the morning on Eid day, my son Syed Daniel Jilani got ready, I sent him for Eid prayer, although he was very sad, he used to go to Pakistan to pray with his Mamoo, but here he was missing those things, that love and everyone. Elders of the family give Eidi to the youngers. It’s basically a token of love.

How I spend my Eid day:

When my elder son came back from Eid prayer, my younger son was sleeping. He ate sweets first. Then we called Pakistan together. I talked to my parents, my siblings. They were all together at one place. It was a very emotional scene at that time. But my parents told me that Eid is a time of happiness.

I left for my friend’s house with my kids, I live in Brampton, basically she lives in Toronto, it’s a 45-minute drive from here, and on the way I took a cake for her house, then we went there, she had kept her family’s get-together, a lot of my other friends who are basically my gym fellows were there. We all ate food together, then we all ate sweets. It was a live barbecue and I enjoyed it a lot.

As I told you earlier, all the elders give As I told you earlier, all the elders give Eidi to the younger ones, so the elders gave Eidi to all the younger ones there as well. Then we decided to go outside, go out for coffee and then we all went to have coffee. My children stayed at home because there were a lot of other children there. And I went to the coffee shop with my friends, we went to Tim Horton, we enjoyed coffee, we spent some time there, we gossiped a little, and then we left for home.

Visit to my Phopo’s place:

After returning from Toronto in the evening, I got a call from my aunt that all of us are here so you also come and then I went to my aunt’s house.All of us were together there, this aunt is my father’s first cousin, so we spent a lot of time with her, we played some board games, we played carrom board, we played Monopoly and ate some snacks.After that, my day was spent very well, even then I called my mom and told her that though I missed you a lot, but my day was spent well because my children were happy at the end there was a smile on their face.

Comparison of Eid in Pakistan and Canada:

If I am going to compare the Eid of Pakistan and Eid in Canada, so I can say that the way we go out in Pakistan, visit relatives’ houses, meet friends. The way people dress up in Pakistan and go out, In Canada there was nothing like that.

I wanna say I missed my country’s Eid and my beloved Family.