Celebrating Eid During COVID-19
My experiences celebrating Eid in the U.S. under shelter in place
May 24th marked this year’s Eid al-Fitr. For Muslims, in spite of the challenges posed by the pandemic, the spirit of the holiday persevered.
ما هو العيد ؟ كيف يحتفل العيد عادة ؟
What is Eid? How is it typically celebrated?
The word Eid itself means “celebration” in Arabic. This religious holiday is celebrated by about 2 billion Muslims around the world twice a year. At its core, Eid is about uniting as a global community and supporting those in need.
Eid al-Fitr is a 3-day celebration that marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and prayer. Eid al-Fitr begins with salat al-Eid, in which members of the local community pray together. Before prayer, Muslims pay zakat al-Fitr, a donation sufficient to provide someone in need with a meal. Then, a special prayer is conducted for Eid. After prayer, we share greetings and good wishes with each other, wishing an Eid Mubarak to the community and eating breakfast together.
About 70 days after Eid al-Fitr, Eid is celebrated again. Eid al-Adha occurs at the end of Hajj, the pilgrimage to the Kabba in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. On the first day of Eid al-Adha, sheep are sacrificed in Mecca to symbolize Prophet Ibrahim’s sacrifice as revealed in the Qur’an. The meat from these sheep is then donated to support those in need and pilgrims complete the following steps of Hajj.
At the heart of the celebration of Eid is community. From festive dinners with friends and families to endless gift-giving, Eid is an opportunity to connect with loved ones. Older family members shower the young members of their family with money, gifts, and heartwarming memories.
كيف أثر الحجر الصحي على احتفالنا بهذه العطلة المباركة؟
How did quarantine affect our celebration of this blessed holiday?
In the fall of 2019, before the era of social distancing, Eid al-Adha was celebrated in big groups, with endless hugs and smiles being shared. Though quarantine may have limited Muslims’ celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday did not lose its spirit: instead of hugs and big dinners, friends and family members exchanged messages and video-chatted. Additionally, salat al-Eid was still conducted using virtual platforms, as group prayer is a crucial requirement of Eid.
Saba Khan, a freshman at UCLA, shared, “Eid this year was definitely different, and it can be debated whether it was a good or bad different. There was an air of appreciation in my family that we’ve made it through Ramadan and the realization that things shouldn’t be taken for granted.” A sentiment central to Eid is being thankful for all of the gifts God has given you and overcoming the fears sparked by COVID-19 helped Muslims feel especially grateful this past season.
Saba also reflected on how her family was personally affected and how they connected to loved ones in a different way amidst social distancing, commenting, “Living with someone who is immunocompromised, my family had to be extra careful about being out and about. We called the families that we would normally see at the mosque for Eid prayer or on Eid day. Insha’Allah I hope to see them in person soon.”
This past Eid al-Fitr, my family and I drove for hours past open fields and the coast, escaping the confines of a world pre-occupied with coronavirus in favor of the simplicity of nature. We video-chatted family members abroad, listened to music, baked klecha (date cookies), and shared a meal under the glowing sun.
For my family in the United Kingdom, social distancing did not eliminate opportunities for interaction with each other: it merely changed the ways in which these interactions manifest. One new method of interaction was a “hug curtain” made of plastic, which serves as a powerful metaphor for how the barriers we have been forced to put up due to the pandemic have transformed the ways in which we embrace those in our community.
Though there was an undeniable longing for the communal gatherings central to this tradition, these novel ways of interaction during Eid al-Fitr serve as a reminder that community persists, even in the face of hardship.
