"Eid Alfitr " by Shadan Jassar

Shadan Jassar
ESL 100
10/10/2011
Essay#1 (Lost in Translation)

                                                      "Eid Alfitr"

                                      
           When the plane touched down at O’Hare, my heart started beating with happiness and love for the new country that I would be living in. I came to Chicago with my parents and my two sisters, and I had always dreamed of living in the United States when I was in my home country, Iraq. I was sixteen years old, when we came. It had been my third year in the United States.  It was December, and I saw how people were getting ready for Christmas. It was fascinating with the cold weather and the snow. They were things that I had only seen on TV. There are a lot of fun events in America such as Halloween and Thanksgiving, but I never forgot my cultural events especially Eid Alfitr which is the Islamic religious holiday that people celebrate right after Ramadan. It is hard to practice it here due to the lack of opportunity, family oriented holiday, and the family’s current economic situation. Thus, my happiness has been swept away.

           

First of all, it is hard to practice Eid Alfitr because of the lack of opportunity to celebrate it. Eid Alfitr lasts three days, and on each day, I used to do something different with my family. On the first day, we would visit our relatives, on the second day, we would go out to a restaurant trying kebab, rice, and some Iraqi sweets, and on the third day, we would invite friends to our house hosting them with Eid Sweets. The atmosphere was encouraging to celebrate the Eid in Baghdad, but in the United States, I realized that the days of celebrating my religious holiday were not going to be the same as they are used to be. Every year during Eid, there is school which I cannot miss, whereas in Iraq we would start preparing for Eid a week before the celebration. It is just like getting ready for Christmas in America except for the fact that Eid and Christmas are from two different religious traditions. In Eid, we do not decorate trees, we have no Santa Clause, and we do not exchange gifts, but instead, the adults would give each child of the family a simple amount of money. I used to save the money that was given to me. This is how Iraqis spend the days of Eid.

       

Second of all, Eid Alfitr is a family oriented holiday. In Iraq, we spend time with and honor our family members, but in America we mainly rely on friends for close relationships. Though the communal atmosphere of American neighborhood appeals to me, I still miss my Iraqi family and all the special times we would share. We used to visit my grandparents and relatives to greet them. My grandmother used to prepare delicious meal in the first day of Eid such as Dulmas. We usually went out with the family for a meal. Eid Afitr is nothing without the social involvement. Children and adults would be happy and proud of the holiday wearing their brand new outfits for the event, the streets would be crowded with people who are celebrating, and all the restaurants parking lots used to be filled with cars. Children would spend time in the playground. As I hear the word Eid, I remember my grandparents because they are the first ones whom we visited during the holiday.

      

Finally, the family’s current economic situation is bad. My father is an engineer who used to work in Baghdad and earned a decent salary. As we came to the United States, we were hoping that my father would work as he used to in Iraq, but eventually things have changed. All what we are depending on is our savings.  Unfortunately for us, Eid is also about buying outfits that we would put on during the celebration. We used to buy new outfits, pijamas, and even new shoes, but we stopped doing that here. In my country, shopping is a popular activity when it comes to Eid. However, when we came to the United States, everything changed. Thus, I don’t even think of maintaining the tradition anymore, but at the same time I want to keep myself anchored to my roots. I speak Arabic which makes me proud, and I want to celebrate Eid as I used to celebrate it before.

         

I often tell my friends about Eid and how difficult it is to celebrate in America, and they ask me about how I used to celebrate Eid alfitr in my country. There are a few things that have to be available to be able to practice it the way it is supposed to be practiced. For instance, without my relatives, without three days’ vacation, and without enough money, it is no longer a fun celebration. Sometimes, I think of going back to Iraq and to live with my people, so I can celebrate all the cultural events with them, but then I think once again about the main reason I am in the United States, which is the safety. Iraq is not a safe place, and it is becoming worse year after year. People often sacrifice doing things that they really like in order to get the things they really need, and that is what my family has done.