MAKKAH, 25 October 2006 — “You will only know it is Eid when you see the people,” is a famous old Makkah saying. With the world shrinking into a global village and the age-old customs and traditions slowly disappearing, a number of old Makkawis remembered the Eid of yesteryears with nostalgia.

“People used to prepare for Eid starting from the last week of Ramadan. All that is gone now,” said Mshari Al-Qahtani.

Al-Qahtani remembers a time when there used to be fixed Eid celebrations beginning from the first day of Eid right until the third.

“We used to have a program that used to begin with visits to relatives and friends in the neighborhood. After that the entire neighborhood would gather for a massive feast and the nights would be extra special,” he said.

The 60-year-old remembers the games they played in by-gone days. “We used to organize large traditional games for the men and children of a neighborhood. At night, the residents would collect money and organize a big dinner in which we would all gather and eat. The thing that made Eid in the past very special is that we did everything together,” he said.

Al-Qahtani’s comments were reflective of the views of other elderly people in Makkah, who believe that the younger generation has changed the real meaning of the festival.

Mohammed Fadda, 65, remembers the role of the neighborhood mayor, or umdah, in organizing the celebrations.

“The main task of the neighborhood mayor was to prepare a Barza, which was a wooden stage in which different folk activities would take place,” he said.

According to Fadda, the mayors were given the task of collecting money from residents for lunch and supper.

Immediately after Eid prayers, people used to visit each other and eat breakfast at home. “Then they would gather for a lunch together,” said Fadda, adding: “For the first three days, people would gather around Al-Barza to enjoy the shows and other activities that would take place. The performers would be people from the neighborhood.”

Al-Fadda expressed his sadness at the disappearance of these traditional activities.

“Neighbors do not greet each other in the morning because they are half asleep. I’ve tried bringing back the old traditions of Eid in my own home with my children and grandchildren. They refuse saying they are old fashioned and simply boring,” he said.

“There used to be competitions in traditional Mizmar dancing between Makkah neighborhoods,” said Mahmoud Bolagi, 67.

“The neighborhood mayor would supervise these dances,” said Bolagi, adding, “If the mayor found someone to be drunk, he would exclude him out of the game and order he be taken to jail. Only the mayor would then be able to release him.”

Bolagi said children would be given a quarter of a silver riyal that they would use to buy toys and candy.

“Nowadays, kids buy fireworks and bangers that are so harmful. This is the wrong message of Eid,” he said.

Speaking about women, Bolagi said, “The women of the neighborhood would wear new clothes and look tremendously beautiful. No one would dare gawp at them let alone harass them unlike what we see these days where sexual harassment seems to be shamefully on the increase. This is totally against the spirit of Islam and Eid.”