Clouds of Frankincense create a smog over the room, twenty well-dressed relatives chatter in Arabic and meander through coffee-tables filled with tons of cake, a new Television in the living room attaches to the computer and provides hours of endless entertainment with family photos, this is Eid. Not unlike Easter in the United States, children run rampant about the house, ruining their new clothing and searching for adults (not eggs) from which to solicit candy or money.
Instructions for maximizing money collecting:
1. Look very cute. It is unnecessary to attempt to ‘clean up’ from whatever tromping about the house you have just done, as the frazzled, sweaty look does tend to be effective for step 3.
2. If possible, be (or pretend to be) between the ages of 6 to 10. If you are much older you will definitely get less, and much younger you will be more likely to have both candy and money intercepted by your parents and dolled out at a later time.
*it should be noted that persons between the ages of 80-100 also receive plentiful lots, and there is no retrieval necessary (as detailed in step 4) the goods are generally hand delivered to you, as you stay in the comfort of your bed.
3. Attempt to look as needy as possible. If you are above the age of ten and it looks as if the person is selecting only a 100 besa note, it is appropriate to grovel.
4. Scan for wealthy looking adults (generally men), and hold out your hand palm side up. This will ensure that there’s no miscommunication. Also, there is no reason to waste time with those adults who are handing out coins, as there are more fish in the sea (probably closer to the cake), generally look for the places where the other children are flocking.
5. (and final) Never underestimate the power of stealing from friends. Wait ‘til Hamdoon becomes preoccupied with chasing the girls, or when Sara’s eating, then strike quickly. It is important to not get caught by your parents in this stage, as you will have to return all money if this happens (this is mild Sharia).
*side note: Mom, before you get all worried that I was taking money from my family, recognize that I am not between the ages of 6 and 10 and therefore only received 500 besa (~$1.30). I also did not steal from children (but they stole viciously from each other).
The long month of Ramadan that leads up to Eid, which makes it obvious that the main attraction to the holiday is not the money, but rather the food. Like food-focused American holidays, preparation for the Eid meals begins days beforehand. Specifically for Eid, our family purchased two whole goats, but the interesting aspects are in the preparation. In Islam, the techniques for butchering are different from those used in the West, and several of the male students were privileged to participate in the process of slaughtering the goats. They described in great detail the process (which I chose to omit from this entry) and the religious recitations that accompanied the practice. After the slaughter, some of the goat meat is mixed with rice and cooked in a LARGE pot beside the house, and stirred with a spoon that looks like a wooden oar. Other parts of the goat meat are coated in spices and buried underground in order to allow the meat to tenderize for several days before eating. In addition to meat, the breakfast table is filled with various cakes, waffles, juices, fruits, sauces, and lots of coffee. Similarly, the floor space that provides tables (there are separate eating spaces for men and women) for lunch and dinner are packed with various types of rice, beans, meat, sauce, fruit, salad, etc. The food is generally delicious, but as a visitor, I was expected to eat heavily.
Finally, I’ll say a little bit about the procedure for the first day of Eid, which I found interesting. At 4am the family awakens and the men bring their dishdashas (or traditional Omani clothing, something like a floor-length white dress shirt with a neck tassel) to the women, who drape them over the skeleton of an easel under which Frankincense is creating pleasantly scented smoke to be absorbed into the fabric. The men go to the mosque to pray at daybreak, and the women begin setting up for breakfast. When my brothers and father returned from the mosque, Dad got out his power drill and fastened on an attachment that he used to stir the meat and rice in the large pot outside, as it had gotten incredibly think. We had breakfast around 7 o’clock, and promptly afterwards began the long process of getting ready to go out and “shake hands” with relatives. Generally, Eid is celebrated by attending relatives’ (all of those who are older than you) houses and kissing their cheeks in greeting, however, because of swine flu this year Omanis restricted themselves to the handshake. Prior to the first day of Eid, Omanis purchase new clothing, new bed sheets, new table cloths, new house dresses, new jewelry, new abayas (traditional Omani clothing for women), etc. and women get their hair done at beauty shops and pay for henna decoration on their arms and hands (and sometimes legs). The whole process of preparation leads up to the 3 or 4 hours of handshaking that is done on the first day of Eid, and to the elaborate dinner parties that families attend during the 3-5 day holiday (the time depends on how much your family likes to party). In conclusion, it should be noted that Eid also brings the end to the pious observance of Islam that accompanies the season of Ramadan, and therefore the lines to enter bars in Muscat form on the first night of Eid, and cigarette purchases and sheesha shop visits peak during this holiday.
