A celebration

Saturday was Eid, the festive celebration that marks the end of Ramadan. Unlike the days of Ramadan, during which one is encouraged to turn inward and focus on self-discipline and spirituality, Eid is about indulgence – food, fun and of course, presents.

We started the day off at the Rogers Centre (previously the Skydome), where many of Toronto’s mosques consolidated their congregations in order to facilitate a large, group celebration.  There were approximately ten thousand people there, and many cultures and countries were represented. The aspect of the event that I love is the celebration of diversity united in faith:  Ethiopians, Somalians, Fillipinos, Turks, Saudis, Indians, Pakistanis, Kurds, Indonesians…the list goes on, all dressed in festive fashions from their native countries.  What a spectacle!  My daughter (who, at the wee age of 2 has already expressed a keen appreciation of fashion, particularly those items that are sparkly, rhinestone-encrusted or pink!) and I found a place on the astro-turf with our family and close friends and enjoyed our view of the non-stop fashion show as people continued to arrive.  Soon enough, my little girl’s shoes were abandoned as she noted a pair of pink patent leather slippers which she coveted. We politely returned the shoes that were not hers, but alas, by that time, my little one’s shoes were lost in the vortex of thousands of pairs of footwear that had been removed for prayer.

Following the namaaz (prayer ceremony), which was attended my several politicians including John Tory and Kathleen Wynne, we made our way home to prepare for lunch with our family and some friends.  Every family has their own Eid traditions, but most South Asian families share the ritual of some sort of kheer, a sweet dish made with milk, vermicelli, roasted nuts, cardamom and saffron.  One of the my strongest Eid memories is of my mother rising at 5:30 am to make the kheer kurma in order that it would be ready for a special breakfast when we awoke to get ready for our trip to the mosque. 

In an attempt to share these traditions with my kids, we made kheer kurma at home, and a number of other delicacies like chapli kebabs, spicy, flat, ground beef kebabs flavoured particularly with the nutty taste of roasted pomengranate seeds.  Some things, like samosas, were ordered from a caterer (Check out the Sultan of Samosas at O’Connor and Victoria Park in East York for the best samosas I’ve had in Toronto) along with mithai, milky Indian sweets in a variety of colours, that came from Iqbal’s Foods in Thorncliffe. 

Family and friends dropped in throughout the day to share a cup of kheer and some food.  The night before Eid, my kids and I had decorated the house with balloons, candles and gold confetti.  I applied mehndi (henna) to the hands of my daughter and some of her friends; our hands were brightly coloured – a sign of celebration and festivity. 

By 7pm on Saturday, things began to wind down, and our kids played quietly with their new toys – which inevitably became their focus.  My goal for the day was to continue some of the lovely traditions that I had experienced in my own childhood and lay a foundation of culture-rich memories for my children.  I think I made a small step in that direction.