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Make It An Eid to Remember

by Corbin

Written by Theresa Corbin

Creating Eid memories

As the air becomes crisp and trees lose their leaves, something strange begins to happen in the West.

It commences with people young and old donning garb that might land them in the loony bin any other time of year; sporting baggage that would never make it past the most lax airport security checkpoint; and painting their faces- for one of two purposes- begging for candy or to go parading off to parties and bars.

But, then about a month later, everyone gathers with their kinfolk for awkward, sometimes annoying, and downright passive aggressive conversations while eating to the point of contemplating a trip to the ER for a quick stomach pump. Yes, turkey and stuffing can be that good.

But, then yet another month after that, folks ritually go out and kill a tree so they can drag it into their homes and fill it with lights and baubles. This dead tree will be the epicenter around which presents bought on borrowed money will be shared all while claiming an immortal fat man from an uninhabitable part of earth brought them.

Welcome to the holiday season. There is so much hype and pomp that goes along with it that Muslims often feel drawn to participate in the “cheer”. But why celebrate these holidays when we have the two Eids that can be as cheerful?


holiday cheerBut when you live in the West, the Eids pale in comparison to the blow outs the non-Muslims celebrate.

What are our Eid traditions?

1. We wake up. Dress up. Go to the Eid prayer.

2. We may or may not stay for the khutbah (lecture) after.

3. We may or may not go and have breakfast.

4. Since we are in the West and the Eids are not recognized as national holidays, it is highly likely that we will have to rush off to work or school at some point.

Even though the morning is filled with activities, the rest of the day falls flat like a bad souffle (not that I have ever made a souffle).

When I first converted to Islam and for several Eids after, I was bummed that Eid seemed like weak sauce compared to the holiday celebrations I had left behind. It seemed like the entire country glowed around the major holidays, but when the Eids came around, sure there would be tons of congrats exchanged at prayer, but then the Eid outfits would come off and the workaday clothes would come back on. And it was back to the daily grind almost instantly.

But then I decided that if I wanted Eid to be special, then I needed to make it special.

If each Muslim family, individual, or community made their Eid special for themselves and told those around them what Eid is, then Eid would be special. What is stopping us? Do we really need department stores to tell us to celebrate by having a holiday sale? Do we have to be reminded by a hallmark commercial that Eid is time for happiness?

Are we waiting for big corporations to commercialize our holidays? Are we waiting for community events or our bosses to ask you if we want Eid off (it will likely never happen)?

Let’s make the Eids special for our families and communities so that we don’t feel cheated out of holiday happiness. Celebrate your holidays. Take the Eids off. Keep the kids home from school. Make memories. Make it something to look forward too.

Decorate the house. Play games with the family. Make special dishes that everyone loves. Send gifts to your neighbors (if they don’t know what Eid is, then tell them).

And husbands, don’t sit back on the couch while your wife runs around making Eid merry. Get off your butt, and make Eid merry with her! 

Download free decorations for your home here or click on the pic below:

fromacraftyarab.blogspot.com
fromacraftyarab.blogspot.com

Have activities for the whole family. Clickity click here. 

eid-party
from hibamagazine.com

Make something tasty for your loved ones. Try some traditional Eastern Eid dishes (recipes here) or make your own fav comfort foods.

from www.craftionary.net
from http://www.craftionary.net

Make it an Eid to Remember!

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26 thoughts on “Make It An Eid to Remember”

      1. Sister Corbin , assalamu alaikum . ” Merry Eid” is New Phrase to me. Guess it is the Converted Version of “Merrry christmas”. 😀 I Ilke it. ” Merry Eid” to My sister Corbin.

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  2. Jazak’Allah sis for this lovely reminder. As a convert who didn’t grow up with Eid, living surrounded by mostly non Muslims, I have to admit I struggle to get into it. But with kids to think about, I really should make more of an effort, so that they can at least experience some connection growing up. The danger in ‘letting it slide’ is our kids feeling they are missing out, and they make seek the enjoyment of the holidays of shirk one day – authoobillahi. May Allah guide us and make it easy, and bless Eid around the world. Salam!

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    1. Walaikum Asalam, oh, good point, esp for the kids it is important to make Eid special, like you said they may seek out the holidays of shirk one day. Authoobillah indeed! Hope your Eid is awesome! Thanks for reading.

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    2. Sister Kristen, assalamu alaikum. My own sister Lives In the Uk and her children r also “Missing The Enjoyment of The Holidays OF Shirk” ( Mainly christmas and Halloween)…. I always Appreciate and believe that Converted Muslim Brothers /Sisters Are Chosen By Allah. They Are Blessed.. Certainly Allah Will Help U to Raise your children to be good, Productive and Confident Muslim Insha Allah. May Allah bless all of us With His Guidence… Eid Mubarak To u …..( please add me in ur dua sister)
      http://iqraa.com/en/newsdetails.aspx?NewsID=1496

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  3. Yup you said it. Eid is almost like a waste of time. Of course not the prayer and blessing itself, but just the awkward similes and glances. Especially difficult for introverts I might add.
    Growing up it was just a boring day, where you rush of to prayer, sit in cramped spaces, with people who you probably never seen before since some only show up for eid prayers, come home, have awkward hugs with relatives and family, the same people if put in a room with you, probably would not have two words say to you, eat some sort of “special food”, lounge around in uneasy clothes, or rush back to school and awkwardly explain to your friends and co-workers, “yeah I am late because of a religious holiday”, and watch their blank and confused stares, “yeah sort of like x-mas”.

    And yeah sometimes when you see your younger siblings be very happy and jumping around, you try to join in the show, but heck you know it quite pointless….so what is the real purpose of Eid as a Muslim holiday ? Can it be even considered a holiday in an American sense of the word ?

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    1. It can and it should be considered a holiday. We are the only ones letting it slide by unnoticed. Yeah, lame holiday traditions always suck the fun out of things, it is almost painful to be a kid and hang out in stuffy clothes with stuffy relatives. It is good to get together with family but have some fun activities for the young ppl too. Come on old people, no one died! As always thanks for reading. Maybe you can find something awesome to do this Eid. And since you are jobless you won’t even have to take off work! It’s call the bright side, maybe you should look at it 😉

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      1. Sometimes I feel I am reading steel magnolias…your sister friends are are bit weird on this blog, but yeah keep Mr. Hyde in your prayers…Happy Eid Y’all (and remember crocodiles are not halal)

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  5. I hope everyone had a blessed Eid yesterday.

    Also, I just read a couple of articles where many Muslims in many states and counties across the nation are starting to push for having the two Eids off from school, if they fall on a weekday, that is. One of the articles was in the USA Today and was very good. If I had the link, I would post it, but you should be able to Google it.

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      1. Salam Corbin,

        I wouldn’t want to do that lol. Enjoy it.

        I just fast for the one day, though, so that is Eid to me. Correct me if I am wrong but the other three days are just al-Tashreeq? I believe it is haraam to fast on those three days as well though.

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      2. Walaikum asalam, you are right of course brother. No fasting. I was more talking about taking the days off work and spending time with friends and fam. Hope u are having/had a fantastic Eid!

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  6. I just reread my comment and I think it was misleading–I was typing on my phone in the middle of class. I meant to say fasting the day *before Eid* makes it Eid to me; that is to say, it’s the day after fasting that I consider most special. That is why I brought up it being haraam to fast on Eid or the days of tashreeq. I think I was a bit confusing there. I might still be, who knows?

    Sister Corbin has me pegged, I am a man, but I thank her for the rare compliment.

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      1. Thanks, sister. When I re-read it, I thought, “OOooppps! It sounds like I’m fasting on Eid.” Auto-correct and not paying attention can you get in trouble when commenting on blogs lol.

        Yes, I am, in a way, but I am currently finishing my second undergrad before I start officially. It is kind of complicated. I graduated, then switched fields of study and had to do articulation courses, more or less. So, it is basically like finishing a second bachelors before I can be officially labeled a grad student, although I am doing grad student work.

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      2. Pretty ambitious stuff. May Allah bless you in it. And yes auto correct is super dangerous when commenting on blogs. Learned that the hard way myself.

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      3. I sure hope the Lord blesses it, for unless the Lord builds the house, the builder does labor in vain.

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