The Grinch Diaries
This year on Eid, I came out and confessed I was a Grinch. I do not enjoy Eid and as I was on my own this year and under no obligations to fake the holiday spirit, I spent the whole day in my PJs and had a Lost marathon.
However, for someone who has strong aversion to religious holidays, or holidays which require you to display a certain amount of cheerful enthusiasm, I am surprisingly enjoying Christmas. I have even agreed to make turkey for my husband.
To be honest, I have always liked Christmas better than Eid. It has always been more fun and less hassle. My earliest memories of Christmas are of fun school parties with yummy snacks, presents and a Santa Claus *big grin*. On the other hand, my earliest Eid memories include being rudely awoken at a godforsaken hour on a holiday, then getting dolled up and visiting all the relatives and family friends and aquaintances present in the city. It would be unfair to discount the ‘ka-ching’ factor, which served as a motivation to drag my lazy ass all over the city, but as soon as I started earning, I had to, rather reluctantly, become the one spreading the financial joy instead of being the recepient. That took away what little interest I had in the holiday.
Eid-ul-Azha never had a chance to become my favourite holiday with all that blood and gore. Not being a red meat enthusiast, actually quite the opposite, I would never find anything good to eat at the numerous dinner parties thrown on the occasion. Not to forget the unbearble stink of meat and blood and intestines and whatever that can be dug out of the poor animals.
Which leaves us with Christmas. One must admit that it is marketed way better than Eid. The decorations are nicer; the jingles and carols are easy on the ears and the sales are amazing. Add to all this the freedom from annoying ‘Eid Mubarak’ text messanges and all those obligatory visits (if in Pakistan) or phone calls to relatives (if living abroad) and you have the perfect holiday. Hallelujah!
Eid can be fun too, if done right. Like you said, Christmas is marketed better. Even here, if you go to a store like Agha’s, you see all the Christmas decorations, puddings, cakes and whatnot which lends a little bit of excitment to the holiday. On the other hand, Eid parr harr cheez becomes much more expensive with the result that celebrating Eid becomes a burden more than anything else. Eid is about spending time with your loved ones but instead we go around visiting relatives who have done nothing but gossip about us all year round. We don’t really know how to celebrate our holidays/festivals, which is Eid seems less and less exciting as we grow older.
Perhaps we need some of those gorgeous Marks and Spencer Christmas candles available here to add some colour and excitement to Eid.
As for me, I love celebrating, be it Eid or Christmas
Merry Christmas Anaar Begum. Now where’s my turkey?
There should at least be an Eid tree. I will give up being a grinch if you give me an ornament-laden Eid tree.
I actually feel the same way about the indian holidays. They are a chore to perform, especially in the US. My mom always made a big deal out of it and could not understand why we were not feeling the same way.
you removed the last blog entry?
why?