Eid Al-Fitr Customs And Traditions

The Arab world and the Islamic world celebrate Eid al-Fitr every year in an atmosphere of joy and festive rituals and strange and funny customs and traditions that Muslims in the Arab world and the Islamic world receive Eid al-Fitr, including burning firewood and shooting.

The rituals of Eid al-Fitr are to perform Eid prayers, and to provide certain types of sweets, and children have the largest share of these rituals and celebrations, as they wear new clothes and get a lot of money and visit amusement parks and parks

Some Islamic countries have added their own touches to the rituals of celebrating Eid al-Fitr, and some of those rituals, customs and traditions differ from one country to another, but before we address those customs and traditions we must know the meaning of those terms to understand their religious, social, educational, aesthetic and economic dimensions

The term rituals, which are the systems of religious service or its rites and celebrations, which are the customs and traditions of a particular society, and the function of the weather is to prove the continuity of a historical event and tends to be repeated and sustainable

The term habits as defined by Dr. Abdul Hakim Khalil are the patterns of behavior, actions and methods inherited, repeated and codified binding to members of society and accepted as a standard of behavior and which grow and gain importance through the needs that satisfy them

The importance of these customs is that they control and regulate aspects of social life, and one of their characteristics is that they are binding and enjoy comprehensiveness and inheritance based on heritage and have binding power and are linked to time and place as they are automatic

The concept of traditions, which are inherited customs in which the successor imitates the predecessor, any act like or followed the pattern such as the work of Eid cakes or henna engraving or the right of salt, and is characterized by being less obligatory than customs, which is like congratulations on holidays

These religious and social occasions emphasize religious, cultural and social identity and help to strengthen social relations and renew understanding between individuals

But what is the use of these customs, traditions, rituals and festive manifestations such as burning wood, eating salted fish, engraving henna, wearing traditional clothes or visiting cemeteries? Do these customs and traditions have meanings and Symbolic connotations?

Each of us has his memories with those customs and traditions associated with Eid al-Fitr, from new clothes, staying up late until Eid prayers, taking money from grandparents, grandmothers and all relatives, exchanging congratulations, visiting graves, strolling in gardens, visiting museums, and manifestations of popular spectacle from a popular theater and various cinemas

We find that the ancient Egyptian first to celebrate the holidays in the world has abounded holidays in ancient Egypt and differed reasons, including what was in the length and breadth of the country and some of them was in a particular province or city and there is a list of holidays in the city of Habu confirms that the time difference between one holiday and another does not exceed three or four days and the purpose of those holidays in the belief of the ancient Egyptian that they maintain the order of the universe, Among the most famous of these holidays are Eid Al-Obit and Eid Hathoor

From the ancient Egyptian, these holidays and occasions moved according to each era and its beliefs, from Coptic celebrations to Islamic celebrations and holidays down to us, and from the customs of Eid al-Fitr are cutting hair, buying new clothes, cleaning houses, washing carpets, and crowding markets to buy clothes and traditional food

And my experience when I was young was preparing for Eid by cutting hair and wearing new clothes and going with my father to pray in the school and mosque of Sultan Hassan in a spiritual atmosphere from the moment of going down to go to the mosque you find the sounds of mosques resounding with takbeers and the movement of people in the street of the weapon market down to the school of Sultan Hassan and prayer and then hear the sermon of Eid and congratulate people to each other and then go to the cemeteries to visit the dead and then return from a way other than the one we took and then breakfast which is a cup Tea with milk, cakes and biscuits, then lunch, which is salted fish, then leaving with friends to the cinemas and returning in the evening to play football and prepare for the next day to go to museums or stroll in the gardens

We now move to our Arab countries to learn together about the customs, traditions and festive aspects of Eid al-Fitr

In Algeria, sweets are prepared and they engrave henna for people of all ages, and at lunch they prefer couscous with meat or shakhshoukha, then families go out to forgive, i.e. every family goes to the larger family house to meet there for dinner

One of the customs associated with Eid al-Fitr in Algeria is the right of salt, which is a sum of money or a golden gift given by the man of the house to his wife in appreciation of her hard efforts throughout the month of Ramadan

On the morning of Eid, before the men go to pray, the ladies make the bread of the house and give it to the men for charity, and at the same time the women exchange dessert dishes

In Yemen, after the Eid prayer, they wear the traditional Yemeni dress, and the men send the children to visit the Eid for all the women of the family or go to the mothers, sisters and sons and give them what is called the Eid Asab , Or Eidiya, which is money given to women to express joy and joy and also to indicate the presence of men behind women according to Yemeni customs and traditions, and drink juices and eat cakes and on the second day be for trips and hiking in the Yemeni countryside

In Oman, Omanis are keen on Eid al-Fitr to buy traditional Omani sweets, hardly an Omani house is devoid of them as a symbol of Omani hospitality, and Omani customs popular dishes such as bride or harissa and eat them before the Eid prayer and after the Eid prayer each family goes to peace on their relatives and relatives to exchange congratulations and distribute money to children

In Morocco, men and women are keen to wear traditional dress and spend the day of Eid in an atmosphere of joy and exchange of congratulations, and housewives go to put their touch on the plates of sweets and Eid pies such as Al-Masman or Al-Baghrir and Kaab Al-Ghazal and all the traditional Moroccan sweets  

In Iraq, most families eat breakfast in the morning, which consists of a dish of kahi and qaymar, which is one of the famous Iraqi dishes as a main breakfast on holidays, and kahi is a kind of fragile pies and looks like Egyptian pie, while qaymar is the creamy Iraqi cream

With that meal, Iraqi tea is added to it and prepared in a special way known as tea anesthesia