Reminiscing fond festival memories, Jordanians observe Eid Al Fitr under lockdown

AMMAN — Experiencing the first Eid Al Fitr, the feast marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, under lockdown, people have taken to social media platforms to reminisce on eid memories and highlight the traditions that they cannot bring to life this eid under lockdown.

The trend “eid is not eid without…” has taken over Twitter and Facebook, with people sharing unique family traditions and broader cultural practices developed over the years.

“Eid is not eid without my dad yelling at us all to get ready before 11am so we can visit my grandmother, whom we have usually seen the day before. Then me and my four siblings would get crammed in one car and go on the usual relative-visiting tour, staging with my aunts,” said Reem Dajeh, an accounting student, on Twitter.

Samar Hamdan, a psychology student, also wrote on Twitter: “Eid is not eid without the whole family getting up in the morning to go to the eid prayer. Happy, noisy children, neighbours laughing, everyone exchanging kisses and greetings,  an atmosphere full of love that will surely be missed.”

With a complete government-imposed lockdown on the first day of eid and the continuation of curfew after it, people are lamenting the first eid in which relative visits, banquets and physical greetings, such as hugs and kisses, are not allowed.

“Even if, for example we were to visit our relatives who live in the opposite building on the second day of eid, it would not be the same. We would not be able to see our grandmother, who is 69 and is, therefore, not advised to be in too much contact with people. Neither would we be able to crowd 50 cousins in one room as we usually do,” said Mousa Farrayeh in a Facebook post.

However, despite people not being able to live out their eid as they would wish, the coronavirus pandemic has sparked up creative ideas to hold on to what is left of eid’s joy.

One social media user posted a photo of eideyyatt (an amount of money given to young children and relatives, in general, during eid) in envelopes that have been sterilised. On the cover, a set of health instructions were written.

The instructions read, “To earn this eideyyeh: 1. Wear gloves and a mask. 2. Do not kiss me, just give me a virtual high five. 3. Stay home as much as you can.”

The people, whose Twitter name is a pseudonym, jokingly said that “there is no way to get children to listen to health instructions than to attach money to it.”

People have also come to the conclusions that this eid, the rules are reversed: “To show love is to stay apart. To show people that you care about them, you must stay away from them. To show affection, do not kiss or touch,” as put by Mena Shahin, a dermatologist, on Twitter.