On Monday 28 July, thousands of Muslims in Canberra joined millions of Muslims worldwide in celebrating Eid al-Fitr.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from food and drink. As this means that they must go without food and drink for 12 hours in the day, Muslims will usually wake up before dawn to eat. This practice is known as suhoor or sehri, while breaking the fast as soon as the sun sets is known as iftar.
Eid al-Fitr is traditionally a three-day celebration. Many Muslims will spend the first day of Eid with congregational prayers in the morning at the mosque, and visiting family and friends during the day. In Canberra, many embassies and high commissions will have open houses where anyone is welcome to enjoy delicious cuisine from their countries.
As the Islamic year is based on the lunar calendar, the end of Ramadan is determined by mosque committees based on sightings of the moon. This also means that the month of Ramadan changes annually. This year, it spanned from June 29 to July 28. Next year it will span June 18 to July 16.
Eid Mubarak everyone!
Photo is from ANU’s Eid-al-Fitr Celebration, on Saturday the 2nd of August.
Photography by Abigail Widijanto.
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Woroni, Woroni Radio and Woroni TV are created, edited, published, printed and distributed. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that the name Woroni was taken from the Wadi Wadi Nation without permission, and we are striving to do better for future reconciliation.