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Ramadan, the month in which one fasts from sunrise to sunset, started last week for my family as well as other Muslims around the world. Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Muslim faith and in about three weeks it will end with Eid Al-Fitr.
These past weeks, my social media feed has been full of Ramadan decoration ideas and kids activities. There is a book available titled Ramadan Around The World by Ndaa Hassan. This book inspired me to ask some of my friends I met through Instagram to share how they celebrate Eid al-Fitr around the world. Many of these families are multilingual and/or multicultural.
Eid Al-Fitr Around the World
An American – Turkish family in France
The day before the kids and I put henna on our hands and we color pictures to decorate the house with.
Henna hands by Adrienne Demirelli
My husband attends early morning Eid prayers and then he comes home to eat a traditional Turkish breakfast. Then we exchange gifts and get dressed up in nice outfits. Next, we visit friends in our neighborhood as many as we can which means platefuls of baklava and the kids fill up with candy, since my husband has to work the next day.
Homemade Baklava – Adrienne Demirelli
The celebration continues for the next two days with people coming to visit us in the evening.
A Somalian – Canadian family in Canada
Last Eidul-Fitr in Toronto, Canada was special like all other Eids, but what made it a bit more special was that my youngest was able walk and run on her own this time. So as per family tradition and Islamic rituals we woke up extra early to prepare ourselves for the congregational prayer. After the prayer we usually pick up breakfast and eat a wholesome brunch together.
Since Eid landed in the summer last year, we went to the Toronto Zoo. It was a beautiful sight and it was quite different then the usual indoor park setting that we were used to. We concluded our Eid festivities on the first day of Eid by picking up lunch at a local burger joint and spending some quality time at the park by the pond while the children played and chased the geeses. It was memorable and calm.
Childhood memories from a Turkish woman
Before Eid the market place was always full. And women were busy making a special kind of börek “suboregi” which takes lots of time. And also baklava should be made at home. We mostly had our brand new clothes for Eid day. Mam goes to pray Salatul Eid early in the morning and woman prepares the special breakfast (after 30 days of fasting, the first breakfast is naturally special :)). After breakfast we prepare and leave home to visit the grandparents first. Then the other elders of the relatives.
Wherever we go, we should be served different kinds of baklawa and the children will get their pocket money which is mostly shiny, newly withdrawn and changes according to the monetary condition of the family. And in Konya there were very big houses with big gardens, if we visit one of them (our relatives and friends) the would give us toys, which make us on the clouds at that time. And the candy and chocolate serving plates would be very fancy that we hardly hold ourselves not to take the second candy. Traditionally, each house we visit, the first thing they should serve was cologne and the candy plate (candy, chocolate or Turkish delight of mixture of all)
When we moved to Ankara when I was around 13, there was another tradition. Children were collecting candies from house to house.
The first Eid day is family and graveyard visits, the second they friends and then we can go to amusement park or enjoy some attractions special for Eid.
A Romanian-Moroccan family in Morocco
For the Eid, we eat tons of sweets and drink super sweeeeet tea and then see family and eat more sweets with more sweet tea 🍵 and talk about how fast Ramadan went….. We will travel just like last year so nothing really…… For me, it’s boring.
A Turkish – Indonesian family in Indonesia
In Indonesia on the Eid day each family member celebrates each other and say “Eid Mubarak.” Some family visits starting from the closest elders. Children will be given their pocket money in special, colorful Ramadan envelopes. There are special cookies that must be bought, especially” nastar” which is a soft cookie with pineapple filling. Quite unique and yummy. Eid Holiday is for almost 2 weeks in Indonesia.
And yearly school break will be on Ramadan and Eid Holiday (around 1 and half months). There are special things like : each employee should be given double salary in Ramadan. And the employer mostly give out Ramadan boxes fiiled with oil, canned fruits, noodles etc. Even some employers provides extra bonus money for the preparation of Ramadan.
During Eid (called Lebaran here in İndonesia) most of the people visits their home town which even has a special name “mudik.” This is very special because only once a year does this happen. If the employee (mostly maids that are taking care of household) do not want to use their right for Holiday, they should be paid daily for minimum 10 days…It is a very special time here.
An American – Creole Family in Martinique
We exchange gifts, listen to lectures, and watch documentairies about islam. We don’t do much. we enjoy everyone’s company when we sit and learn together like people, places and things.
I will be sharing more Eid Al-Fitr around the world stories on my blog throughout this month, follow along here.
If you are celebrating Ramadan and Eid let us know how you celebrate and where you live in the comments below!
Multicultural Kid Blogs is proud to be hosting its fifth annual Ramadan & Eid for Kids blog hop, where bloggers come together to share ideas for teaching kids about and honoring Ramadan & Eid. Don’t forget to check out our blog hops from last year, 2017, 2016, and 2015. Be sure to follow our Ramadan & Eid boards on Pinterest for even more ideas!
Adrienne is an American living in France with her Turkish husband and three kids. She is a strong advocate for multi-language learning from a young age and enjoys encouraging others to learn new languages at any age. She shares learning activities and writes about raising multilingual (6 languages between us) and multicultural kids, expat living and travel on her blog, The Multilingual Home. She loves connecting with readers on Facebook and Instagram.
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