The celebrations for the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr actually begin
on the 29th of Ramadan. There is always tense excitement in our
house; everyone gets excited. We always get prepared for the phone
calls.
Dad is an official at our mosque so people ring us up to ask
if we have received a message from Saudi Arabia. Our local mosque
is also busy with phone calls asking if it is Eid next day. Sometimes
a group of men from the mosque go to nearby hills, because if
it is a cloudy night, the moon can be seen clearer from a height.
It is the sighting of the moon which tells us it is Eid. When
the news arrives everyone is really excited and we begin to give
positive answers to the phone calls we receive. Mom breaks the
news to the neighbours and the excitement is spread around.
Those of us who have fasted for a whole month have proper reason
for all the excitement but the youngest members of the family,
Nusrat and Mussarat, who didn’t fast, but who had been part of
the fast in the sense that they had spent the days amongst seven
people going without food and drink, were more excited than us.
They sensed the excitement was for something special and so became
restless. They stayed awake until late on the night before Eid
because there was bustle going on around the house. Dad was at
the mosque and he was not really as excited as us. Mom, Baji and
Asmat were busy in the kitchen sorting out the food. Me and Fameedah
had bought it during the day, just in case it was Eid. We had
decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Mom sorted out what
was going to be cooked and was helped by suggestions from Baji
and Asmat. They got to work on the dishes that needed to be prepared
overnight. As they were busy in the kitchen Iffat was linishing
off the ironing. She had ironed some of the new clothes during
the day.
The actual day of Eid began very early after the excitement of
the night before. Dad, me, Iffat and Fameedah went to the mosque
to pray and Mom and Baji carried on with the cooking. The house
was cleaned and everyone wished Nusrat and Mussarat would keep
out of the way because there was plenty of work to be done, but
as they were so excited there was no holding them back. They kept
getting in everyone’s way asking when Eid was going to start,
as they thought there was a set time when the celebration for
the festival should begin.
When we returned from the mosque and Dad had paid Fitrana, which
he had to pay for all nine of us, Mom was still in the kitchen
and Nusrat and Mussarat were getting impatient. When everything
was finished we all dressed in our new clothes. This is probably
what Nusrat and Mussarat were waiting for. When they got into
their new clothes they felt Eid had started.
When we were all ready we went visiting for part of the time
and received visitors for the rest of the time. On this day each
year we see people we haven’t met for a long time. Me and Iffat
went delivering our Eid cards and stayed with friends for a bit.
Other friends came down to our house and the house was full of
noise. We all eat on this day and those who want exchange presents.
We can’t always visit everyone we want to so Mom sent me, Iffat
and Fameedah to a few houses with dishes for the people we hadn’t
seen. Most of the day we spent with friends.
As the day drew to a close and the family were all back together
again we just sat around talking about what we had done during
the day and who we had seen. The noise dies down now and everyone
feels tired. Nusrat and Mussarat, of course, didn’t want Eid to
end and didn’t want to go to bed. Me, Baji and Asmat, Iffat and
Fameedah all got together before we went to bed and talked for
a bit but we soon felt tired and decided to call it a day.
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