Eid ul Azha

17th November, 2010, Eid Mubarak to all. Today in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Singapore and even Canada, Eid ul Azha is being celebrated. Its is one of the two Eids of Muslims around the world. It is a big day for all Muslims and I personally enjoy it immensely. This time around i was supposed to put henna on my sister's hands but unfortunately due to unexpected fever and influenza i could not do it.
But fever or no fever, i was going to party on Eid and so i am. But it is cold and when i bought my clothes i was not expecting it to be this cold so am kind of frozen. Also the fact that i didn't sleep all night is not helping at all.
The best part of Eid is the night before, which is called the Chand Raat here in Pakistan, translated into English it would be Moon night, which refers to the sighting of the moon. Actually in Eid ul Azha, the moon is sighted about 10 days ago, so the original concept of Chand Raat came from Eid ul Fitr, which is the first Ein and is before this Eid and comes at the end of the Holy month of Ramadan.
Basically Chand Raat is all about the family going out to the market the night before the Eid day, originally the concept was to do all the Eid shopping on this night, the clothes for both the men and women, the shoes and the most important thing for any traditional event or function, that is bangles for the ladies. This is also the night where people put henna on their hands and leave it all night so that it is really strong in the morning. But in recent years, the concept of getting clothes on that night has gone out and people now get their clothes before hand. But Chand raat is still very important as people still go out, get bangles and get henna. It is a time for the whole family to enjoy.
Eid is family time, friends come later the most important part is for the family to get together, people visit the graves of their loved ones and pray for them, their is a congregational prayer early in the morning. All the men go to the mosque to offer this prayer while the women stay at home to pray, this unites everyone. So Eid Mubarak to all.