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Happy Eid!

Quantum

08:31 / 12.10.07

Happy Eid ul-Fitr everyone! I thought we should have a thread to celebrate Muslim holidays, and I wanted to find out more. What can you tell me about Eid?

20:58 / 12.10.07

I can't tell you anything really. Thanks to your reminder and link, I'll be emailing a friend to say Selamat Hari Raya.

HCE

21:41 / 12.10.07

Eid's not till March for me, but thanks anyway!

Olulabelle

23:00 / 18.10.07

I'm confused about Eid - here in Birmingham many of my colleagues are just finished with Ramadan and Eid is now, but also last month we had an Eid Melah. I think that was the beginning of Ramadan, but I'm not sure. I heard a woman doing a monologue on Radio 4 about Eid and the Western approach to it and after that I felt really self conscious about asking random 'how come' questions of the Muslims I know.

So how is Eid at different times?

Quantum

12:46 / 19.10.07

Apparently Eid al-Adha is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims worldwide as a commemoration of Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael for Allah. It is one of two Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate. Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha also begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon (khuṭba).

So there are two Eid festivals- Eid ul-Adha lasts 4 days and is called the Greater Eid while Eid ul-Fitr lasts three and is also called Lesser Eid
There's some different views on the dating, kangarou could you enlighten us a little?

HCE

13:51 / 19.10.07

Well, I'm Iranian and not religious, so for me Eid is just the new year celebration. Ours varies each year since it starts on the first day of Spring, but it's usually around March 20. It feels like having a new year start at the beginning of Spring makes more sense than having it in Winter. There are lots of nice associated things like a character in a Santa Claus outfit (but with black skin), a bonfire you get to jump over, etc. Being born close to Eid is a bit like being born close to Christmas -- your cousins get gifts twice a year and you don't.

I know, it could be worse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norouz

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