As the Islamic month of piety, abstinence and worship - Ramadan - draws to a close, excitement and anticipation of the imminent Eid ul Fitr celebration starts to fill the air. Having lived in Pakistan's largest cosmopolitan, seaport city - Karachi - all my life, I cannot imagine celebrating Eid anywhere except in my own home country, and particularly in my birth town. Hub to a plethora of commercial, business, religious and social activity, with a thriving nightlife, Karachi comes alive during the last few nights of Ramadan, with every shop and business operating in the wee hours to maximize profit during this time of the year - Eid ul Fitr being the epitome of Muslim gaiety and celebration.
Pakistani Muslims spend the last 2 or 3 days before Eid in a frenzy of last minute Eid shopping. Hitting the glittering malls after the culmination of the nightly taraweeh congregational prayer, families can be seen shop hopping for shoes, clothes, artificial jewelry, and henna, ending their nights with good, hearty dinners at local restaurants. Mosques start displaying the amount of Zakat Al-Fitr to be given to the needy during the last 2 days of Ramadan, with collection booths set up for this purpose outside their doors. Beggars are, unfortunately, around in abundance amid the shops and markets, asking all and sundry for a bite to eat, or a penny or two, in Allah's name. Keeping up the spirit of giving, Muslims do not jerk them off, but help them as much as they can whilst Ramadan lasts.
The 29th night of Ramadan experiences a major flurry of excitement as Pakistan's moon sighting committees start to peer at the sky to spot the crescent moon, which if seen, will signal the end of the month of worship and the start of Shawaal, the next month in the Islamic calendar. Local news channels make the announcement regarding the result of the local Islamic scholars' moon sighting efforts. If Eid is the next day, shouts of joy are heard from the windows of apartment homes and residences, with some young boys climbing rooftops to fire amateur shots in the sky to signal the onset of Eid. If not, everyone fasts for the last time the next day, and they elatedly start their festive preparations for Eid the following night - known as "chaand raat" ('night of the moon-sighting') in popular culture.
Women of the house excitedly rush to prepare for Eid morning's sweet breakfast before Eid prayer, which, according to local Pakistani tradition is a nutty, thick and creamy milk-and-vermicelli concoction called "sheer khurma" - drunk from mugs or partaken with spoons from bowls. Some families cook this traditional dessert on low flame on the stove throughout the night to ensure an authentic taste.
While the women start preparing snacks in the kitchen to be laden out on the tea trolley for guests the next day, girls excitedly iron their clothes and pester their brothers and fathers to take them out for a drive to town to get their hands decorated with henna and to buy bangles matching their clothes. One wonders why this "bangle-and-henna-buying" jaunt to the market is delayed until the very last night. Well, this is a very long-held Eid tradition in Pakistan!
After an exciting trip into town, or to a ladies' henna-applying "chaand raat" dinner party, everyone falls asleep well after midnight, with the younger girls holding their hands carefully upright in order to preserve the beauty of the henna patterns on them.
Dawn the next day is witness to families scurrying around in the hustle-bustle of decking themselves up for going out to Eid prayer at the local mosque or prayer ground. Water pumps roar into action after the pre-dawn Fajr prayer, as everyone wants to take a shower before wearing their special, new Eid clothes and shoes. The dining table is meticulously laden with fresh, hot sheer khurma, omelets, toast or paratha's and piping hot tea, as everyone sits down to eat their first family post-sunrise breakfast in a month (as the Ramadan routine necessitated fasting from dawn to dusk)!
The family then jets off to the mosque or prayer-ground in a race against time to pray the congregational Eid prayer behind a local imam. This prayer is usually held within the first hour after sunrise, with stiff competition for parking space outside the mosque sand a last-minute rush to pay off the over-due Zakah Al-Fitr by those who haven't given it already. Allah's greatness is proclaimed by all in the form of "takbeer" (saying "Allahu Akbar" - God is the greatest") on the way, with fresh, happy faces beaming at each other and the women discreetly checking out each other's dresses on the prayer rugs, before the Imam finally initiates the prayer.
After the prayer, the Imam gives a short sermon exhorting righteousness and reminding the Muslims to strive to continue their steadfastness in worship, a routine to which they adhered in Ramadan. He ends with a short supplication to Allah, after which the congregation disperses.
People proceed to happily meet and greet each other, heading off to gather at a family elder's home to exchange greetings, good wishes, and gifts with each other. Pakistani children especially look forward to the crisp notes of paper money (known as "Eidee") that the elders dole out to them religiously every Eid morning; competing with each other in who got the most. Last, but not the least, families indulge in eating to their hearts' content. The goodies that adorn every home's banquet include an ample-sized, creamy Eid cake basking in its glory as the center-piece of the table-spread, flanked by local traditional snacks such as samosa's, cholay (chickpea and potato salad), dahi baray (fried lentil dumplings in yogurt), spring rolls, sheer khurma, and sweet meats; the latter popularly known as "mithai" in the Indo-Pak subcontinent.
Almost the entire day is spent visiting relatives, neighbors, and family friends. Some families prefer going out with their children to enjoy themselves at parks, playgrounds and the beach, for some outdoor recreation and enjoyment. The shorefront of Karachi is a particularly popular hangout, with children's horse and camel rides and dips in the surf a great mode of enjoyment for the locals. Pakistan thus reverberates for a couple more days with vibrant community spirit. Muslims meet and greet each other, and bond after a month of dedicated worship, as a gay celebration of the Islamic festival of Eid ul Fitr.