My husband entered home happily and announced, “ the Eid moon has appeared and tomorrow will be Eid, Insha Allah.” I became happy too. I told my children “take out your new dresses, so you can wear them tomorrow morning.”
My oldest daughter watched us very surprisingly, and after a few minutes she asked me, “Why is Papa so happy to see the new moon? We saw a new moon every month but he is not excited all time.” I tried to explain to her. “After Ramadan month we celebrate Eid, it’s our celebration which God granted to us - that’s why your father is excited and happy.” “But what’s new?” she argued and asked, “ how did you celebrate your Eid when you were a child?”
This question brought me down memory lane and I told her a story. “When I was a child, my father bought new dresses for us. One night we went to the market to purchase bangles (bracelets) and other jewellery, and put Henna on our hands. In the morning we went for Eid prayer, and my Mother made vermicilies (special sweet dish) and other sweet dishes. That’s why we say this is sweet Eid. After Eid prayer, my father gave us some money which we called Eidi. We went to other relatives’ houses to wish them Eid, and they also gave us eidi. We used money to buy different things we wanted because that was our money and were allowed to use it.”
“Where were you all day on Eid?” she interrupted. I just come back from my memories and replied, “we visited our relatives and neighbors homes to collect eidi and have fun all day with our friends and cousins.”
“Mom, why can’t we celebrate Eid like you? Why don’t we have that much fun?” I had no answer. But I tried to explain to her, “we are living abroad, we don’t have relatives here and not many friends. We are not allowed to just anybody’s house without permission. We are busy, and we are struggling ourselves to adjust here to get good jobs.” She said, “Mom, why did you bring us here? Do you think we don’t have the right to celebrate Eid like you? Do you think we are not children like you?” I had no answer for her. Then I said, “I will try to make your Eid like mine was,” and I phoned my friend to come to my home with her children to celebrate Chaand Raat (moon night), and to put on henna and bangles.
I hope this Eid is even better than my Eid for my children. I realize that it’s the parent’s duty to make our children happy. We forget about their childhood because of our busy lifestyle and I promised myself to make their Eid better than me.
