Eid al-Fitr

My finished mehndi design.

Tonight is the Islamic Festival of the Breaking of the Fast, which ends Ramadan. In Arabic, eid means festivity and fitr means to break a fast.

Muslims celebrate for three days; they decorate their homes with lights, dress in their finest clothes, and visit with friends and family. It’s a day of peace, unity, and forgiveness. A common greeting is “Eid Mubarak” (Blessed Eid).

Agenda this week:
1. Prayers

2. Zakaat zl-fitr (Charity of fast breaking)

3. Read "The 5 Resets"

4. Mehndi Designs

5. Make Ma'amoul (Stuffed Date Cookies)

1. Prayers:

The Arabic phrase lā ilāha illā allāh is one of the pillars of the Muslim faith, and is a part of the call to prayer five times a day throughout the Muslim world. It means There is only one God, which I do believe. Broken down, this is the literal meaning:

lā = no, not, none, neither

ilāha = a god, deity, object of worship

illā = but, except

allāh = allāh (God)

Allāh is the same loving spirit I know, by any name.

For a YouTube video of this chant check SAMI YUSUF LA ILAHA ILLALLAH.

2. Zakaat zl-fitr (Charity of fast breaking):

Although generosity and good deeds are always important in Islam, they have special meaning now. The day before the `Eid, Muslims share their blessings by paying zakaat al-fitr, or "charity of fast breaking"- a gift of money or food for the poor. 

Zakaat is another one of the five pillars of Islam. The purpose of zakaat is to establish a semblance of equality in our crazy chaotic world. 

This week I will choose a charity or food bank to donate to, or find other ways to be generous; the prophet Muhammad said, “Even meeting your brother with a cheerful face is charity.”

3. Read "The 5 Resets":

For Lent, I'm reading "The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience" (2024), by Aditi Nerurkar. My goal is to get wiser, stronger, and more adaptable.

I've been working at the first reset - to Get Clear on What Matters Most. I set some realistic goals, and made a realistic plan - By Easter I will adopt healthy choices for snacks and meals without processed food, and be less addicted to easy carbs; integrate most if not all of the Emotional Balance Workbook exercises into my everyday life, and feel more emotionally grounded, aware, and regulated; and complete at least three art projects of some kind.

The second reset is to Find Quiet in a Noisy World. She spends several pages discussing smartphone and screen time addiction: Digital noise causes us stress. She suggests I create boundaries around my valuable attention bandwidth. I've also instituted a buffer of one hour of no screen games before my planned sleep time.

She goes on in this chapter to thoroughly discuss news-induced triggering, when a particular subject on the news can remind you of a past trauma and cause an anxiety attack. She suggests that we can all parent ourselves: Manage the onslaught of information to protect our mental health.

4. Mehndi Designs:

During the Eid celebration some people decorate their hands with patterns called mehndi. They might also decorate their feet or even foreheads!

The dye for mehndi is made from the leaves of the henna plant, mixed with water and eucalyptus oil. You can buy henna kits all over the place now, and find traditional designs online, or probably buy a design book where you find the henna.

Materials: Henna, lemon juice, sugar, cotton balls, design

1. First plan your design. You can draw it out on paper if you want. Also, mix up about 1/3 c. cup of lemon juice mixed with 2 Tbsp. sugar.

2. Apply the henna (it comes in a foil bag, ready to pipe on like frosting).

3. Let the henna dry for a couple minutes, until it is firm to the touch, then dab it with the lemon juice and sugar syrup. This syrup helps it to set, and keeps it from flaking off. The longer you leave the henna paste on, the darker the design will be. 

4. When you can't stand it any longer, flake off the dried henna, and wash your skin gently. The design will last a week or more.

5. Make Ma'amoul (Stuffed Date Cookies): 

After prayers, everyone visits the homes of relatives and friends for an enormous midday banquet, featuring a roasted whole lamb and many delicious cookies and sweets. My favorite cookies are Ma’amoul, which means “stuffed” in Arabic. These cookies can be stuffed with a number of different fillings, but date is traditional for the Eid.

Ma'amoul are usually made with a decorative wooden mold (I used one I got in Chinatown) but you can use your hands to shape the cookies, and a fork to press a design in the sides. The recipe is here.