Sheikh Arif Bulbon :
Eid-ul-Fitr is one the main festivals of the Muslims. This is the happiest time of the year for every people in the country.
For a week, offices and schools remains closed during the festival.
Preparation of Eid starts long before the festival. People go shopping for Eid dresses. For men, Punjabi is the special dress for Eid. For women – Saree, and Salwar-Kameez.
During the Eid shopping, people purchase for themselves, and for family members and relatives as much as possible. Giving Eid present is a long tradition of Bangladesh.
Before 2 to 3 days of the Eid, people start to leave the cities for their hometowns and villages. Everyone return home and gather for the festival. Quiet remote villages become crowded. Everyone goes to meet each other in the village.
Eid-ul-Fitr means the festival of breaking of the fast. It is also called ‘Feast of Breaking the Fast.’ Eid is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramzan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (Sawm).
The religious Eid is a single day during which Muslims are not permitted to fast. The holiday celebrates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramzan. The day of Eid, therefore, falls on the first day of the month of Shawwal. This is a day when Muslims around the world show a common goal of unity. The date for the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on the observation of new moon by local religious authorities, so the exact day of celebration varies by locality. However, in most countries, it is generally celebrated on the same day as Saudi Arabia.
Eid-ul-Fitr has a particular Salat (Islamic prayer) consisting of two Rakats (units) and generally offered in an open field or large hall. It may be performed only in congregation (Jama’at) and, has an additional extra six Takbirs (raising of the hands to the ears while saying Allahu Akbar, (literally ‘God is greatest’), three of them in the beginning of the first raka’ah and three of them just before Ruku in the second raka’ah in the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam. Other Sunni schools usually have twelve Takbirs, seven in the first, and five at the beginning of the second raka’ah.
This Eid-ul-Fitr salat is, depending on which juristic opinion is followed, Fard (obligatory), Mustahabb (strongly recommended, just short of obligatory) or Mandoob (preferable).
Muslims believe that they are commanded by Allah, as mentioned in the Quran, to continue their fast until the last day of Ramzan and pay the Zakat and Fitra before offering the Eid prayers.
Eid day starts in the very morning by men’s and kid’s taking shower and getting ready wearing new Punjabi, and go to the Eid-gah (a special place to do Eid prayer).
Eid prayer lasts for at least one hour. After the prayer, everyone hugs each other. This is the sweetest moment of the Eid. This hugging going on the whole day when meet someone new. Children purchase balloon and other toys from Eid-gah.
Returning home everyone eats Eid special Semai. Many kinds of Semai are prepared in the eid day. With that, some other special sweet foods – Payes, Firni and Khir. For afternoon and evening, Khichuri is the main special food during eid.
From the evening, people start to go outside. In village, everyone goes each others houses. There they eat and gossip. In the city, during the eid days are the quietest time of the year. No traffic jam at all. This is a really nice time to walk in the roads.
People go out to the parks with kids, specially Shishu Park and Fantasy Park. This is continues for the 2 to 3 days of the Eid. After that, people start to return, and continue their usual life until another Eid.
