Book excerpt from My Life in Doha: Between Dream and Reality by Rachel Hajar
Chapter 14
Footsteps of Morning: Eid and Christmas
“When the happy Eid morning come / We compete with the feet of the morning, running / We go out with the bright light of our clothes / Our bright smiles brighter than the morning light / We gather to the musalla on the sand . . .” penned my husband exuberantly in a verse remembering the Eids of his childhood.
The Islamic calendar has two religious festivals called Eid. The Festival of Breaking Fast is called Eid al-Fitr and marks the end of Ramadan. Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice commemorates the willingness of the Prophet Abraham to offer his son Ismael as sacrifice to God. Eid al-Adha coincides with Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The celebration of the two Eids is essentially the same except that Eid al-Adha involves the sacrifice of an animal, a ritual performed by Abraham when he killed a lamb in place of his son.
I had never heard of Eid before coming to Qatar but I have found that taking part in Qatari festivals has been both an enlightening and a culturally and spiritually enriching experience. Festivals are windows into the heart of a culture. Eid is to Muslims what Christmas is to Christians. Although the two festivals differ in context, both are occasions for prayer as well as a time devoted to family and friends and the fulfillment of social obligations. There are, however, similarities and differences in their celebration, underlining the multidimensional nature of each festival.
Eid al-Fitr is a time of thanksgiving to God for observing Ramadan and an occasion of hope for a new life and abundant blessings. Unlike Christmas, however, the official announcement of Eid was always preceded with uncertainty. Will it be or will it not be Eid tomorrow? The beginning of Eid was always shrouded in uncertainty because the religious authorities depended on human sighting of the new moon, which can be a problem on cloudy days. The uncertainty exasperated my husband but I found it exciting. I thought it gave depth and dimension to the excitement and anticipation. The occasion usually reminded me of the night before Christmas, when as a child, I used to go to bed keyed up, anticipating Christmas morning and wondering what presents awaited me.
The Eid festival was celebrated according to tradition. Grooming was a very important aspect of observing the feast. Women usually dressed in caftans adorned with fine gold or silver embroidery and wore gold jewelry. In a poem redolent with nostalgia of his childhood Eids my husband described the Eid girl:
The Eid girl, dressed in bright color,
Throws her hair behind her collar.
Silver thread decorate her vest,
And shine with light over her chest.
Her necklace dances when she walks,
And shivers around her neck when she talks.
Her gold earrings look at her cheeks,
And dance with joy when she speaks.
Her gold bracelets ring
With music as they swing.
Henna on her hand is a duty,
But does not add to her beauty . . .
On the first day of Eid, Muslim men assembled for Eid prayer at sunrise in various designated open spaces called musallas. I usually saw pictures of those gatherings in newspapers showing thousands of men kneeling shoulder to shoulder in neat rows, humbly prostrating themselves in prayer, foreheads touching the ground. It was awesome and in my mind I would hear them murmur, “Allaahu Akbar” in unison, the sound resonating through the morning light.
The first day of Eid was devoted to the family. Children were given eidiyah, a gift of money from family, relatives, neighbors, and friends. Unlike Christmas, gift giving was not part of the ritual except for the token of money given to children, and so it became my habit to write an Eid card to each of my children, in my uniquely clumsy Arabic script, that included their own Eid greeting and their eidiya. Doing so gave me a lot of thrill and pleasure and enabled me to relive the card and gift giving of Christmas. The first time I gave my children their Eid card written in my distinctive Arabic script, it created a sensation in the family. My newfound skill in writing Arabic letters languished when they outgrew eidiyas.
Throughout the day, guests were offered fresh fruits, sweets such as baklava (layered pastry and nuts sweetened with honey), gahwa (Gulf coffee heavily laced with cardamom), and tea scented with rosewater. The clan met at the beit al kabeer, the big house, for lunch, which usually consisted of one or more lamb, depending on the number of guests expected. The lamb was served on top of steaming rice on massive trays.
Eid has highly spiritual and moral qualities. The first Eid comes after a whole month of daily fast. The second Eid marks the completion of Haj or pilgrimage to Mecca in which the Muslim renounces worldly concerns. Christmas is also a spiritual feast since it celebrates the birth of Christ—the Savior—who was sent to redeem mankind from their sins. Just like Eid, Christmas also means victory—the triumph of good over evil. The template of the celebrations of Christmas that I remember is not so much different from the celebrations of Eid. The two feasts highlighted that Muslims and Christians shared the same beliefs and behaviors. The milieu for the celebration of Eid and Christmas may be different but both encode in their festival and prayer ritual the concepts peace, joy, love—and hope.
Rachel HajarMy Life in Doha: Between Dream and Reality
Footsteps of Morning: Eid and Christmas
“When the happy Eid morning come / We compete with the feet of the morning, running / We go out with the bright light of our clothes / Our bright smiles brighter than the morning light / We gather to the musalla on the sand . . .” penned my husband exuberantly in a verse remembering the Eids of his childhood.
The Islamic calendar has two religious festivals called Eid. The Festival of Breaking Fast is called Eid al-Fitr and marks the end of Ramadan. Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice commemorates the willingness of the Prophet Abraham to offer his son Ismael as sacrifice to God. Eid al-Adha coincides with Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The celebration of the two Eids is essentially the same except that Eid al-Adha involves the sacrifice of an animal, a ritual performed by Abraham when he killed a lamb in place of his son.
I had never heard of Eid before coming to Qatar but I have found that taking part in Qatari festivals has been both an enlightening and a culturally and spiritually enriching experience. Festivals are windows into the heart of a culture. Eid is to Muslims what Christmas is to Christians. Although the two festivals differ in context, both are occasions for prayer as well as a time devoted to family and friends and the fulfillment of social obligations. There are, however, similarities and differences in their celebration, underlining the multidimensional nature of each festival.
Eid al-Fitr is a time of thanksgiving to God for observing Ramadan and an occasion of hope for a new life and abundant blessings. Unlike Christmas, however, the official announcement of Eid was always preceded with uncertainty. Will it be or will it not be Eid tomorrow? The beginning of Eid was always shrouded in uncertainty because the religious authorities depended on human sighting of the new moon, which can be a problem on cloudy days. The uncertainty exasperated my husband but I found it exciting. I thought it gave depth and dimension to the excitement and anticipation. The occasion usually reminded me of the night before Christmas, when as a child, I used to go to bed keyed up, anticipating Christmas morning and wondering what presents awaited me.
The Eid festival was celebrated according to tradition. Grooming was a very important aspect of observing the feast. Women usually dressed in caftans adorned with fine gold or silver embroidery and wore gold jewelry. In a poem redolent with nostalgia of his childhood Eids my husband described the Eid girl:
The Eid girl, dressed in bright color,
Throws her hair behind her collar.
Silver thread decorate her vest,
And shine with light over her chest.
Her necklace dances when she walks,
And shivers around her neck when she talks.
Her gold earrings look at her cheeks,
And dance with joy when she speaks.
Her gold bracelets ring
With music as they swing.
Henna on her hand is a duty,
But does not add to her beauty . . .
On the first day of Eid, Muslim men assembled for Eid prayer at sunrise in various designated open spaces called musallas. I usually saw pictures of those gatherings in newspapers showing thousands of men kneeling shoulder to shoulder in neat rows, humbly prostrating themselves in prayer, foreheads touching the ground. It was awesome and in my mind I would hear them murmur, “Allaahu Akbar” in unison, the sound resonating through the morning light.
The first day of Eid was devoted to the family. Children were given eidiyah, a gift of money from family, relatives, neighbors, and friends. Unlike Christmas, gift giving was not part of the ritual except for the token of money given to children, and so it became my habit to write an Eid card to each of my children, in my uniquely clumsy Arabic script, that included their own Eid greeting and their eidiya. Doing so gave me a lot of thrill and pleasure and enabled me to relive the card and gift giving of Christmas. The first time I gave my children their Eid card written in my distinctive Arabic script, it created a sensation in the family. My newfound skill in writing Arabic letters languished when they outgrew eidiyas.
Throughout the day, guests were offered fresh fruits, sweets such as baklava (layered pastry and nuts sweetened with honey), gahwa (Gulf coffee heavily laced with cardamom), and tea scented with rosewater. The clan met at the beit al kabeer, the big house, for lunch, which usually consisted of one or more lamb, depending on the number of guests expected. The lamb was served on top of steaming rice on massive trays.
Eid has highly spiritual and moral qualities. The first Eid comes after a whole month of daily fast. The second Eid marks the completion of Haj or pilgrimage to Mecca in which the Muslim renounces worldly concerns. Christmas is also a spiritual feast since it celebrates the birth of Christ—the Savior—who was sent to redeem mankind from their sins. Just like Eid, Christmas also means victory—the triumph of good over evil. The template of the celebrations of Christmas that I remember is not so much different from the celebrations of Eid. The two feasts highlighted that Muslims and Christians shared the same beliefs and behaviors. The milieu for the celebration of Eid and Christmas may be different but both encode in their festival and prayer ritual the concepts peace, joy, love—and hope.
Rachel HajarMy Life in Doha: Between Dream and Reality
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