Eid-al-Fitr 2020 in the UK

Atiyah-

Ramadhan has come and gone; Eid has dawned upon us (as much as I wish I came up with that, I didn’t – it’s a song from Zain Bhikha)

Eid-al-fitr is known as the “festival of breaking the fast” and is a religious holiday, celebrated by Muslims around the world. It marks the end of the holy month of Ramadhan during which Muslims abstain from eating from the beginning of dawn until sunset for a period of 30 days.

On a typical Eid morning, we like to have a little lie in and wake up at…7:00 am, something about waking up on Eid is just special! This year was no different, the day started with everyone switching off their alarms and grumbling about who gets to shower first (the never-ending debate). On the morning of Eid, it is recommended to put on a pair of new clothes (the perfect excuse to do some online shopping), wear perfume, eat something sweet and put on your biggest smile to greet all the guests. Unfortunately, this year being away from home and being unable to physically go out and visit everyone and wish them, majority of the celebrations took place over facetime. This also meant that the receiving of Eidi (gifts given by the older members of the family to the younger ones) was done by transferring money into each other’s bank accounts, which I am not complaining about, imagine the shock when you open your account to see that the balance is no longer dangerously low, that was my Eid made!)

As you can imagine, majority of the day is spent greeting and wishing EVERYONE you know and eating the most delicious treats all day long. For as long as I can remember, every Eid is celebrated by preparing ‘Seviyan’, a traditional dessert made of vermicelli, cardamom, sugar and milk- and it is divine, it’s served to anyone who comes home, and any leftovers are consumed and thoroughly enjoyed by me. In addition to ‘Seviyan’ the morning is spent preparing for the big Eid lunch, which consists of biryani, samosas, various curries, kebabs and all the desserts you can think of (Food coma? I think so). To top it all off, the weather this year was absolutely perfect, with the pretty blue sky and the fact that almost no cloud could be seen, this Eid was most definitely a memorable one.

After making all the necessary Eid calls to family around the world, I spent the evening in the park with the perfect soft serve from the ice cream van enjoying this glorious weather, listening to my Eid playlist. Finally, before the day ended, we drove around delivering little Eid packages to family and friends and wishing them a Eid Mubarak (from a safe distance of course). I think that it is extremely important, particularly during the current situation to remember to be grateful for our health, family, safety and of course food- keeping in line with the spirit of Eid. And although it’s a little late, I’d like to wish all of you reading this a very happy Eid Mubarak.

Suhaib:

WOW!! Ramadhan went by so quickly I must say. Alhamdulillah!

Allah (God) has legislated that we celebrate the end of Ramadhan (Eid Fitr) and usually, this is celebrated with family and friends. However, due to the peculiar nature of this year’s Ramadhan and Covid-19, we are celebrating ‘Eid’ in isolation. In celebrating the joyous occasion, my wife and I observed our “Eid” prayer at home just after dawn and made Nigerian delicacies like jollof rice, plantain, pepper soup, puff-puff and fantastic ofada sauce... We shared this meal with friends living nearby by going to deliver it to them at home so that the spirit of the occasion will be felt both by us and our friends who live nearby at least.

I must say that I had to do some school related work on “Eid” day as well since I had deadlines to meet. Hahaha. I also made a lot of calls on “Eid” day talking to family and distant friends as we all celebrate the “Eid” in isolation at our various locations. Although, this year “Eid” was somewhat peculiar, but it also was interesting to me as I was able to model my family typical “Eid” celebration even while thousands of miles away from home.

Erza-

Personally, I think my Eid celebration started way before the exact date! I received hampers and cookie boxes from friends throughout Ramadan (one time I even received four food deliveries in a single day!) so I already had plans to return all these favours. I think it is sort of customary in Indonesian (or Islamic?) traditions to ‘return’ food when you receive one, so I’ve cooked several of the traditional dishes several days before Eid to be sent out to my friends. Several of these dishes took some time to cook so it was quite a challenge, especially since I also had deadlines clashing. One day before Eid, I started sending out these food hampers and honestly, that was my first experience of solo cooking and preparing food hampers for Eid since I usually do this with my family. I now feel that I appreciate all the hard work my mother puts into cooking our family dishes during holiday celebrations.

During Eid, I did my morning Eid prayer at home and afterwards, joined the virtual Eid gathering organised by the Indonesian Islamic Society in the UK. During this event, we listen to sermons followed by taking collective pictures through our screens. Honestly, it was quite funny and memorable, because I’ve never done that before, and we spent several minutes just to strike the right pose 😊. This was held in two sessions, where the first one is for the Indonesian Islamic Society in Leeds and the second one is for the whole Indonesian Community in the UK, organised by the Indonesian Embassy (imagine having to take pictures of 100+ screens!). The Embassy also had several Indonesian artists perform online so it felt quite festive (at least, virtually 😉). In between these virtual gatherings, I also managed to do several video calls with my friends and families in Indonesia although this is a bit challenging considering that I have a 6-hour time difference with my parents and an 8-hour time difference with my sister. I spent the rest of the day eating, praying, watching news about Eid celebrations and then eating again. I still have several cookie boxes left which will keep me happy until next month at least so everything’s good. One of the cookies that I cherished the most (since it’s my favourite) is called putri salju, roughly translated as ‘snow princess’ which is a round or crescent-shaped cookie covered in white confectionary sugar, hence the name.

Overall, although this is not how I imagined celebrating my final Eid in Leeds (yes, this is my last year ☹), it was nonetheless a unique and memorable experience. I really appreciate all the warmth and kindness (and foods, obviously) that I received throughout Ramadan and Eid and believe that despite all these hard times, we will all emerge stronger as a community. Lastly, Eid Mubarak for those who are celebrating and sending you greetings and prayers from Leeds.