Here Is How Muslims across World Celebrate Eid Al Fitr

Eid Al Fitr, known as the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”, is an important celebration for Muslims, marking the end of Ramadan.

Muslims around the world are set to celebrate the three-day festival this week, typically by attending morning prayer at the mosque, followed by a large feast with family and friends. So, here is how Muslims across the world celebrate Eid Al Fitr.

Egypt

Egyptians prepare for Eid Al Fitr before its arrival, as they clean their houses, decorate roads and mosques. Following Eid prayers, "Salat Al Eid" in Arabic, people wear the finest clothes and head with their families and friends to parks and recreation sectors.

Kahk (Eid Cookies) is the most prominent feature of celebration, as Egyptians serve the tasty Kahk with drinks for their gusts and family members.

Palestine

Muslims in Palestine celebrate Eid al-Fitr as they prepare sweets and cookies called "Ma'amoul ". Moreover, they hold joyous celebrations in all the streets, neighborhoods and cities after the prayer in the mosque.

Nigeria

Eid al-Fitr is a big occasion for Muslims in Nigeria. Government give workers a three-day holiday to celebrate with their families. Adults and children celebrate in the villages, houses and cities where they share congratulations and greetings on this holy event.

Indonesia

Greeting cards are one of the most prominent ways to congratulate people in Indonesia on Eid. Even the postal service postpone vacation to send tens of millions of greetings letters to families and loved ones.

On the other hand, rural residents depend on mail, city dwellers send short and quick greetings via messages on the mobile phone.

In the rural areas, Eid is often greeted with firecrackers and fireworks being set off. Muslims will greet one another with “Selamat Idul Fitri” (“Happy Eid”) and ask for forgiveness by saying “Mohon maaf lahir dan batin".

Malaysia  

In Malaysia, Eid al-Fitr is known as Hari Raya Aidilfitri or Hari Raya Puasa, with “Selamat Hari Raya” being the most commonly exchanged greeting.

Being a Muslim-majority country, Muslims will gather for the Eid prayer in the morning wearing their Raya finery, followed by visiting relatives’ and neighbors’ homes.

Some of the popular dishes served are rendang (a spicy meat dish, usually beef or chicken) and ketupat (sticky rice wrapped and boiled in a palm leaf).

Australia 

Even though Muslims in Australia are minority, government declared the three-day festival a holiday in the country. They conduct prayers at parks and gardens. In addition, they hold fairs and festivals, celebrating Eid.

Philippines

Although Muslim Filipinos comprise about six percent of the population. In 2002, the government established Eid Al Fitr as a regular holiday to honor the country's Islamic heritage.

They celebrate Eid with prayers as they wear new clothes and on the way to the mosque, eat something sweet such as a date, and recite a small prayer called a takbeer.

Turkey

In Turkey, Eid is literally the holiday of sweets, as it’s referred to as Seker Bayram ("Bayram of Sweets") and Ramazan Bayram ("Ramadan Bayram"); “bayram” being the term for national holidays.

Children will normally go door-to-door asking for sweets, such as Turkish delight and baklava.

India

The night before Eid, called Chaand Raat (meaning "Night of the Moon"), is when families would do their last-minute Eid shopping, so bazaars and shopping malls will be buzzing with excitement.

Young women will also put on colorful bangles and apply mehndi (henna) on their hands and feet.

Some sumptuous Eid dishes that you’ll see a lot of are briyani, meethi sewai (vermicelli cooked in milk with almonds and pistachios), and sheer khurma (vermicelli pudding with milk and dried dates).

China

In China, provinces with large Muslim communities – such as Xinjiang and Ningxia – get to enjoy one day off as public holiday.

In Yunnan province, some will travel to the tomb of Sayyid Ajjal in Wo-erh-to to clean his tomb and read from the Quran. The Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang will usually serve sanzi (deep-fried crispy noodles) as the traditional dish for Eid.