Eid in the City

When I was little, Eid was a big affair. We Muslims have two Eids, Eid Al-Adha also known as the Big Eid is a four day celebration at the end of the Hajj season, and Eid Al-Fitr or the Little Eid and my favourite, is a three day celebration of the end of the month of fasting, Ramadan. As a kid, we made a bigger fuss of the little Eid, I think it was the reprieve from fasting and the excitement of eating while the sun was out that got the adults happy, and that affected us little ones. In the Middle East, we would get new clothes, and spent the Eid days stuffing ourselves with Ma’mool, date cakes, running around in our new clothes, visiting family and friends with our parents, and getting rich on Eidiyya, money adults give children during Eid. I loved Eid :)

The excitement and fun of Eid changed over the years, I still bought the new clothes, and visited people. I also added to the traditions, by helping my Mum actually prepare the Ma’moul instead of just eating it, and drinking arabic coffee. My increased seriousness of fasting during Ramadan also introduced me to what my Uncle calls Rafsat Ba’arat al-Eid, or the Kick of the Eid Cow, which is basically the tummy ache one gets from shocking the fast-shrunken stomach with rich sweets.

Then I moved to the city, and Eid, well, was not the same. It is a big city and it does take a lot of time and effort to establish a network of friends; time and energy which are a scarce commodity when also establishing your career. So the first two years, and four Eids in London were, different. The few friends I had made either went home to visit family or worked. Since my family were a 7 hour, £500 flight away, I opted for working.

Working during Eid is not a happy or pleasurable experience, the first time I did it I ended up feeling rather upset, lonely and pathetic. Not one to let the self-pity demons win though, I established my own, new, Eid routine. Disassociating with past traditions of sleeping in on Eid morning, I started attending Eid prayers. In London, my Mosque of choice is the East London Mosque. It is the easiest one to get to, is purpose built, clean, and very well organised. It is also the only mosque in London which is allowed to broadcast the Athaan, call to prayer. Even though I knew no one at the mosque, attending gave me a bit of the Eid spirit that I missed.

Being in London also meant that no food craving went unanswered, and a quick trip to the delis in Edgeware road transports me back to the Middle East. So part II of my eid routine is Edgeware road to stock up on ma’mool, and ghraybi, arabic shortbread, which I then take with me to the office to share with colleagues over coffee. I started that tradition because I could not imagine Eid without the cakes or the coffee (be it Arabic or nescafe gloop), and my nice colleagues humour me and seem happy enough to eat the odd date cake.

With time, my network of friends has grown and my relationships with people that I met in London has evolved. I am in a better position to be able to make plans for these big days, my Eid traditions now also include dinner ‘somewhere nice’ with the women who have stayed in London. This year I was also planning on extending this to a attending a play as well with the ladies from Imaan Networking. However, due to some rather fortunate promotions by some airlines I was able to procure some seriously discounted tickets back to visit my parents, and am now enjoying homemade ma’mool, arabic coffee, sun and sea!

Eid Mubarak to all !