The meaning of the holiday Uraza-Bayram and its traditions

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

Eid al-Fitr (Eid al-Fitr) is the Feast of Breaking the Fast, which comes immediately after the end of the fast of Ramadan. Christians and Muslims living in Russia are often interested in what kind of event is celebrated, what can be eaten in Eid al-Fitr, how to congratulate the believers in Allah.

What is this holiday for Muslims?

Uraza-bairam does not have an exact date attached to a certain date, as well as there is no special regulation in the number of solemn days. Orthodox Muslims in different countries can celebrate it for several days, and on official days off it can be fixed from 1 to 3 days.

The run-up in annual dates is simply explained: the holiday comes after Ramadan, and Muslim fasting is calculated according to the lunar calendar. For comparison: in 2017, it was celebrated all over the world on June 26, and in 2020 it comes on May 24.

The first day of the lunar month Shaval is the beginning of Eid al-Adha. You can understand what this important event is for Muslims from several important points:

• it is one of two major holidays in the Muslim faith;
• it has been celebrated for almost 15 centuries;
• in Arab countries, any official activity ceases - government and educational institutions, public organizations and even shops do not work;
• in Russia it is an official day off in 9 constituent entities of the Federation, including not only Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya, but also Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Crimea.

For this day, an official historical date is fixed - the appearance of the Koran, the holy book of Muslims, which was transmitted by Allah to his prophet Muhammad (Mohammed), in the form of revelations, since Allah is God who always acts on Earth through his messenger.

Magomed traces his ancestry from Adam and his full name includes the names of all male ancestors. This is the last Prophet of Allah, and in world religious studies it is believed that the Koran is a unique work, like other holy books by which believers live.

Eid al-Adha is not only a celebration of the end of the great and complex process of purification. To understand what is celebrated at generously laid tables, it is enough to know that it was at this time that Muhammad conquered Mecca and the Koran was granted to all Muslims.

What can you eat

The longer the fast, the more Muslims say, but even those who did not fast can celebrate Eid al-Adha. Therefore, on the days of the holiday, everyone goes to visit each other, and the hostesses try to make the table on which traditional dishes stand was especially generous.

You need a lot of food, since the holiday lasts for three whole days (and sometimes more), but there are no special restrictions on what you can eat, because Muslims are a religious community, and Islam is professed in many countries by people of various nationalities, and in every nation have their own food preferences:

• lamb, fish, vegetables and fruits, nuts (pistachios, almonds), dates, raisins and figs, and certainly fresh bread;
• in Tatarstan, meat pies are fried - peremyachi, manti, sweet and delicious chak-chak;
• in Azerbaijan they cook their own pilaf from basmati rice (the filling is different and is prepared separately - chestnuts, dried apricots or raisins are added to it), baklava, cabbage rolls are made from grape leaves - dolma;
• honored guests are served homemade noodle soup (tukmach) or stewed vegetables with meat (olash);
• you can eat everything that women baked from sweets, and children are especially willing to use it - they are given baursak (a type of donuts), brushwood (urama), pies with cottage cheese or berries;
• you can often find a festive pie - belesh, it is closed and stuffed with potatoes and meat (certainly halal);
• what to cook to eat is often decided by the hostess, but lamb is a mandatory attribute, soup with rice, nuts and lemon is prepared, potato goulash (potatoes are rubbed on a coarse grater);
• marmalade, dried fruits and sweet pastries are put on the table, for example, a roll with nuts or apples with rice - and this is not counting traditional pies;
• in Karachay-Cherkessia they cook millet sweetness, in Kabardino-Balkaria - khychin - a thin pie with interesting fillings - nettles, pumpkin, cheese, potatoes and cheese and even beet tops;
• Crimean Tatars make an indispensable chiberek, known to everyone as a cheburek;
• in the Chechen Republic there is galnash - special dumplings with meat, a unique handicap and special instructions for use (they are served with sauce and washed down with broth);
• in Tatarstan it is echpochmak, it is made from yeast dough with beef, gubadiya is a multi-layered closed pie.

The dishes are quite simple to prepare, but housewives of different nationalities have their own secrets - spices, ingredients - somewhere they add lemons, nuts, dates, raisins, and somewhere other components. It is important that food is prepared ahead of time and served on the table with pleasure, joy, congratulations.

Congratulations are accompanied by gifts. Modern nutritionists recommend a gradual transition to abundant food after severe abstinence, but Muslims are a people who honor traditions, and they are not particularly worried about such advice.

What not to do

The rules and prohibitions are in many ways similar to the Christian ones: on Eid al-Adha, on the list of what not to do, there is work - at home, in the field, in the office or in a retail store. All necessary preparations are made ahead of time.

From similar prohibitions: you cannot refuse alms to the needy, food to the hungry, an obligatory rule - what to do if you see that someone cannot celebrate due to lack of money (neighbors or strangers) - they must be fed so that they can too celebrate and enjoy the great holiday.

And the main thing that one should not do is to admit bad thoughts and criminal actions, to conflict, to scandal, to use foul language, to fight and quarrel, to be sad, to fall into melancholy and despondency. You shouldn't even raise your voice.

How to congratulate

There is no need to be afraid to congratulate your fellow citizens on the great Muslim holiday, there is a certain greeting - "Eid - Mubarak", meaning "I wish you a blessed holiday." However, there are no special restrictions on how a person of another faith can do this.

If these are close people, the greeting on this day can begin with the words "Congratulations on the holy holiday of Eid - Mubarak, Eid al-Adha has come", and then pronounce traditional wishes in an excellent form.

On Eid al-Adha they wish fulfillment of all desires, health and prosperity, happiness, prosperity and long life. How to congratulate, your own imagination, the usual formulas of politeness and a desire to do something pleasant on the day of the holy holiday of Muslims will tell you.

Traditions

There are 7 rules that must certainly be followed in order for Eid al-Adha to be truly traditional, although different republics have their own customs due to national characteristics:

• festive night, with the reading of the Koran, early visit to the mosque (at 3.30), namaz and salavats to the Prophet: prayer to Allah is the most important component of the night before Eid al-Adha (they go to the mosque along one road, go home along the other);
• indispensable cleanliness in the house, on the street, in clothes, in thoughts, in the body, elegant attire and incense;
• charity, which is called sadaqa - it is given not only in the mosque, but also wherever there are people who need it;
• greetings, congratulations, treats, visiting and receiving guests, gifts to everyone who is dear, loved or lives nearby, special attention is paid to children;
• visiting cemeteries after performing prayer to pay tribute to the dead;
• visiting those in need of support - lonely, sick, distressed, grieving - everyone who will be pleased with attention, sympathy and support.

In the appeals of the servants of Allah, the elderly and respected people, all the necessary traditional actions that need to be performed on a sacred holiday are certainly mentioned.

Ideas of spiritual cleansing, perfection and good deeds, in the name of the grace of Allah, are the main threads that permeate the motley festive fabric in any Muslim country.

Summarize

1. Eid al-Adha is a holiday of breaking the fast.
2. He does not have a clear calendar date.
3. It is tied to the end of the Ramadan fast.
4. The traditions of the holiday have remained unchanged for one and a half thousand years.
5. On this day, they rejoice a lot, eat and treat, express good wishes.