Over time, the customs of the old days change, and in each new age, some of the customs of the old days disappear altogether and some change their form. The same thing has happened with the rituals and traditions attributed to Eid.
The special thing about Eid is that it has a deep connection with your city, because Eid is a special festival that everyone wants to celebrate in their hometown.
Before Eid, he returns to his area wherever he is. When he is on a journey, he has already completed his work and returned to his home before the day of Eid. One celebrates Eid away from one’s hometown under extreme compulsion.
Malik Jahan Alam Yousafzai, 60, hails from the Lower Dir district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Reminiscing about his childhood, he says that in his time, preparations for Eid used to start a week ago. Boys and girls used to run in the streets. They were more than happy to get new clothes and shoes, which was actually their school uniform. So it was a double joy to find a new pair for the school.
“When new clothes and shoes arrived at home, there was no end to the joy. He wore his clothes two or three times a day and often hugged the shoe box.
The night of Eid would pass in the thoughts that they would get up in the morning and go to such and such house first and which toys would have to be bought with Eid money.
In those days, after the morning prayers, the first thing that happened was that all the men and women of the village would go to the graveyard to pray and often the first rays of the sun would fall on them in the graveyard or on its way.
Jahan Alam said that in those days there were no different types of sweets like today. Soybeans and semolina were usually made at home, while the rest of the daily bread was bread.
There were two types of soybeans. Fine soybeans from the market and thick homemade flour soybeans.
Fine soybeans were sweetened with sugar, while thick soybeans were boiled dry and served with sugar and butter.
After breakfast, relatives would visit each other’s houses and the children would start celebrating Eid.
One of the rituals that gradually became obsolete was the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Balna ritual in which people used to go to the homes of all the relatives in their village and eat. This practice is now largely extinct and is now confined to a few houses.
Jahan Alam told Urdu News that it was a time when love was more. Distant relatives used to go to each other’s house on Eid and eat whatever food was prepared in each other’s house. The series begins at the home of the eldest member of his family and ends at the last house.
In some areas, it is said that all the people of the village used to eat together in the room of the elder of their tribe which was the greatest symbol of solidarity and love.
Basmati rice was mostly cooked on Eid with desi ghee, curd and curry.
Rather, the benefit of the custom was that it would put an end to the resentment of the family members for various reasons and they would eat together and forgive each other for the joy of Eid.
Another benefit was that the poor in the area also had good food.
According to Jan Alam, in the room where people used to gather, the women of other houses also used to gather at the same house and they also shared their hands in the work with the women of that house. Today, this practice has survived in only a few areas.
Lost in the beautiful memories of his childhood and with a smile on his face, Shah Maqsood told Urdu News that clothes etc. were available on Eid but one of the great joys was to get Eid.
On Eid, we used to get a maximum of one or two rupees for Eid, which was a very reasonable amount. To get ready for Eid, we would get ready in the morning and go to different relatives where the elders of the house would give us Eid for one or two rupees. ‘
