By In a classic case of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, Ramadan has flown by and given way to Eid-ul-Fitr, and all the celebration that entails! As we prepare to cannonball into our favorite Eid traditions — those little things that make Eid truly feel like Eid — the Muslim Girl team reached out to a few of our writers so they could sound off on the traditions they like to indulge in.
What we were rewarded with were a series of uplifting narratives of unity, camaraderie, and the realization that sometimes, due to life’s circumstances, we have to take ownership of coming up with our own Eid traditions, thus creating a wonderful and uplifting new cycle of traditions.
Whether you’re celebrating with your family and friends or not, whether you are celebrating in a new part of the world, surrounding by things more foreign than familiar, we wish you a blessed Eid, and hope that amongst these stories, you too may find something familiar, comforting, and worthy of adopting.
1. Who Doesn’t Love the Smell of Cinnamon?
Anonymous: “For Eid, we have a family tradition of making cinnamon rolls for breakfast! And then, we either visit people or they come to our place. Even if it’s not cinnamon rolls, we find something that everyone loves and looks forward to. For example, we usually bring donuts to the Eid breakfast we have with family and friends. I definitely associate the delicious scent of cinnamon with Eid, though. Even when we went to Sri Lanka for Eid, my aunt made homemade cinnamon rolls!”
2. New Tradition, Who Dis?
Noor Masr: “I go to my local masjid here because just like many, we [my parents and I] are the only ones from our family living in the US. It does get hard sometimes. This year, however, the local masjid is holding an Eid carnival and we are so hype to go! I think it’s kind of fun to make your own traditions because that’s how traditions we know well were once made.”
3. Hit Me With That BFF (Big Family Feast).
Zeina Jhaish: “Eid for me is definitely that family breakfast, and it’s always special because I’m usually home [in Kuwait] for Eid! For Eid-al-Adha, I’m in Montreal, and in that case we just go out to eat.”
4. East vs. West?
Imaan Asim: “When we were living in Doha [Qatar], we would do Eid salah outside, host a brunch with friends, and go out in the evening as a family. This upcoming Eid will be my first Eid back in England after living in the Middle East, and I just know it won’t be the same. It’s weird because my sisters and I have an exam on Eid, so most of our celebratory stuff will be in the evening. I don’t know if it’s just me or not, but Ramadan just hasn’t felt like the Ramadan I’m familiar with from the Middle East.”
5. Change Is Inevitable, I Guess?
Amina Radwan: “When I was younger, banking the money from our elders was a motive. We fought over who could get the most money. Unfortunately, as I have grown older and more mature, these old folks aren’t giving the money out, so this tradition fell by the wayside! Sadly, I feel as though traditions we used to be familiar with have been slowly dying off. I have not gone to visit anyone for Eid in the recent past. Things have changed! It feels like no one wants to have an open door anymore. The fast pace of society really has ruined traditions. It’s almost like our cultures have been altered to appeal to Western culture rather than our own.”
6. Bouncing Our Way Through Eid.
Anum Ahmed: “A lot of my mom’s family lives within a ten-mile radius from us, so every year for as long as I can remember we have Eid-ul-Fitr at one aunt’s house, and Eid-al-Adha at another’s with the whole family. When we were younger, we would always get a jump house in the backyard for Eid-ul-Fitr that the kids would fight over because the older kids would want some alone time to jump without the little kids getting in the way. Now that we’re older and many of us are married and have kids, we still do the jumper, but for the next generation of kids.
We used to be really big on money and toys/gifts for all of the kids in the family, but as we all got older, it became more and more sparse. So now, it’s usually that the men go for the Eid prayers in the morning, come home, everyone gets ready, and then heads out for my aunt’s house which is usually a potluck. We eat and hang out all day. I think it’s really comforting. Our family is big and really close mashAllah, so we see each other pretty often anyways, but it’s nice to see everyone together at one time. It’s weird when we’re not there for Eid. We were traveling last year for Eid-al-Adha so it felt weird to not be with the fam.”