GAZA CITY — On the morning of Eid al-Fitr, Arafat Helles will begin the day with a particular prayer on the mosque to mark the top of Ramadan, and eat a breakfast of salty cheeses to line his abdomen for what’s to return. Then, he’ll set out together with his three brothers and father throughout the Gaza Strip.
They will start with their mom however ultimately go to some 15 sisters, aunts and nieces, doling out dinars and shekels as a part of a Palestinian customized of males marking the Muslim vacation by giving an eidiya, a present of cash, to feminine family members.
The visits will observe an nearly choreographed routine. At every residence, the boys will probably be plied with espresso and sweets. After little greater than quarter-hour, the social calls will finish — a rarity in a society the place such visits might final for hours, and infrequently finish in an invite to remain for dinner.
“This is the eidiya visit,” stated Mr. Helles, 48, a professor of social companies at Al-Quds Open University, in Gaza. “It’s one of our important traditions.”
Giving an eidiya has lengthy been a follow amongst Muslims — although it has no spiritual foundation — and is believed by some to this point again 1,000 years to the Fatimid dynasty and the follow of emirs giving gold cash or items throughout festivities.
But in most Muslim cultures, adults give an eidiya to youngsters, generally in small, token quantities. Palestinians give the cash to each youngsters and grownup feminine family members, making the custom far dearer, with the type of monetary burden and expectations that Christmas present giving has within the West. The quantities can vary from 20 shekels, about $6, to 365 shekels, about $100.
These days, developing with the cash for the eidiya is very onerous.
The 16-year blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt has undermined the residing situations of greater than two million Palestinians, and led to an almost 50 % unemployment charge that’s among the many highest on the planet.
To give the eidiya, some males will go into debt. Others will wait till their wives get their eidiya from family members earlier than turning round and utilizing that cash to offer the present to their different feminine family members.
“However bad one’s financial situation is, we have to go and give,” stated Mr. Helles’ father, Hamid al-Abid Helles, 74. “This is a tradition we won’t abandon.”
The follow comes on the finish of a month of already added bills for Ramadan, with the frilly dinners after every day fasts, and ornament of properties and buy of recent garments to be worn on Eid. In the weeks main as much as the vacation — which this 12 months begins on Friday — procuring districts in Gaza had been packed, with seasonal spiritual music simply audible over the din of buyers and honking horns.
At every relative’s home, Mr. Helles, his brothers and father will probably be served sturdy Turkish espresso, Eid date cookies and goodies — a part of the Eid diyafah, or hospitality. They will eat simply sufficient to be well mannered however stay aware that on the subsequent cease they are going to be supplied the identical unfold and inspired to indulge.
“By the end we have a stomachache,” stated Mr. Helles, a father of six. “We put all the chocolate in our pockets and tell them we’ll eat it later.”
“He comes back home and his pocket is bulging with chocolates,” stated his spouse, Basima Helles, 44.
During every go to, the boys will control their watches. After quarter-hour, they’ll start making strikes to depart, and name to the ladies of the home to simply accept the eidiya. The ladies, in flip, will protest out of politeness. “Really, there’s no need,” they’ll say. Some will put their fingers behind their backs to keep away from being handed the cash.
To reduce the embarrassment of payments being pressed into palms, retailers throughout Gaza are actually providing eidiya playing cards and small bins to place the cash in, to make the customized really feel extra like present giving and fewer transactional. Some playing cards point out each feminine relation that might be on the receiving finish of an eidiya: my granddaughter, my spouse, my mother-in-law.
Every 12 months Ms. Helles tells her personal brother to not give her an eidiya, as a result of she is aware of that his monetary state of affairs is precarious, and that she is considered one of six sisters.
“We say, ‘we forgive you, we excuse you,’ but he’s not willing to come empty-handed,” she stated. “He considers this a social obligation.”
The subsequent day, when ladies go to go to their households for Eid, she’s going to return the cash by giving it as an eidiya to his youngsters.
As the financial state of affairs in Gaza has worsened in recent times, males unable to afford the present giving have stopped visiting family members altogether throughout Eid to keep away from embarrassment.
But spiritual leaders urge males to not abandon a non secular obligation — visiting household — for the sake of a cultural one — the eidiya.
That message hasn’t all the time been heeded.
“If you don’t have an eidiya, it’s better not to go,” stated Abdulmutee Matar, 31. “Because they are accustomed to when you greet them and shake hands, you have money in your hand. If your hand is empty .…” he trailed off, waving his empty hand within the air for emphasis.
He used to offer 50 shekels every to his spouse, mom, 4 sisters and eight aunts when he ran his household’s third-generation clothes retailer. But three years in the past, he needed to shut the store.
Since then, he has solely had occasional work however remains to be unwilling to surrender the custom. His mom, a instructor, offers him cash so he can no less than go see his sisters to offer the eidiya. He not visits his aunts on Eid.
For ladies, the eidiya may be an additional monetary enhance.
Last 12 months, Hanadi Tawaahena’s father gave an eidiya to her three sisters and mom however to not her. He advised her that was as a result of she had a house baking business and was making her personal cash.
“The eidiya is important, even if I work,” stated Ms. Tawaahena, 34, final week as she made Eid cookies in a home smelling of ghee and semolina flour. The sweets will probably be a part of the diyafah in properties throughout Gaza. She stated it was not only a matter of cash, however a matter of precept and being a part of a longstanding custom.
She added with fun, “I told him, ‘Don’t do that again.’”
For different ladies, it’s concerning the cash, and so they plan nicely upfront what to do with their haul, together with shopping for a wanted family merchandise or garments for his or her youngsters.
Ms. Tawaahena’s sister, Shoroq, 28, was rolling out floor dates to stuff the cookies. She had already made plans along with her buddies to take their eidiya cash and spend it at Gaza City’s boardwalk and eating places.
“Women on Eid become rich,” Hanadi Tawaahena stated, with one other chortle.
Sitting on the opposite finish of the desk, rolling out dough, the sisters’ mom, 50-year-old Ashjan, agreed.
“But,” she added, “they make the men poor.”
Source: www.nytimes.com