JEDDAH, 28 October 2006 — Residents in Jeddah celebrated Eid Al-Fitr this year by reintroducing age-old customs and traditions including folk music, dancing, food and games.
The special Eid celebrations, known as Eideya, were celebrated in residential neighborhoods across the city with district mayors, or umdahs, taking a pivotal role in organizing them.
Besides organizing the Eideya the mayors collected money, known as “Gatta”, from residents according to their respective financial abilities.
The Eideya festivities were organized over three days and included musical activities and feasts. Visitors to the festivities were welcomed into the neighborhoods by organizers with a breakfast straight after the Eid prayer.
The breakfast is the most important event on the first day of Eid. Organizers say the main purpose is to gather as many people as possible for the Eid so everyone would get an opportunity to greet each other at one place rather than visiting houses to greet people individually.
This old-fashioned setup also allowed residents to have an opportunity to greet family members living outside the neighborhoods.
Public celebration began on the first day of Eid differing from one neighborhood to another.
In the Al-Sham neighborhood in downtown Jeddah, residents were entertained with popular traditional dances known as the Al-Ajal and the Al-Mezmar.
In the Al-Ruwais neighborhood, traditional folk dances with a sea-oriented theme were on show.
Residents and visitors could be seen attending these traditional dances wearing traditional clothes such as the Al-Sdereya and Al-Buksha. Decorated thobes could also be seen.
The residents also played old and new games in a temporary location in the middle of the neighborhood. Swingers and Ferris wheels, horse riding and table soccer are very popular. This is usually accompanied by traditional food made by residents including delicacies, such as baleela, egg and liver sandwiches and juices.
Restaurants were very active on Eid, which is considered to be a peak selling day. Some of them prepared large dinners and lunches, something which caused an increase in the price of livestock. The price for goats ranged from SR300 to SR700.
The Jeddah Municipality increased their supervision activities around slaughterhouses to ensure the livestock is healthy prior to slaughtering. Municipality teams inspected stores to ensure they adhered to safety regulations.
