Breakfast Chats: Special Eid Edition🌙
Ramadan comes to an end
“Breakfast Chats” is a lighter series, where I share short musings and conversational tidbits about life things. It’s a regular, monthly feature that I’ve made open for access to all subscribers, both free and paid.
Salam! It’s a special, festive Eid edition of Breakfast Chats🌙
We’re celebrating Eid tomorrow and I wanted to send this issue out more real-time on the last day of Ramadan, which is why you’re seeing it this Sunday instead of last Friday.
Today, I’m taking you into our home for a peek into the pre-Eid festivities. Eid is the 3-day celebration that Muslims have after Ramadan and so Eid Breakfast Chats it is :)
1. CURRENT SCENES AT HOME 🌙
The day before Eid, I’m almost always doing a deep clean of our place. The last few days of Ramadan, a certain spatial chaos starts to set into your home. Laundry piles start appearing in corners, you casually start unseeing those things that are out of place. Life is busy in a good way; and I think you just have to let go of some things, to let in some things.
So, this morning, I started with throwing our bedding in the wash for fresh sheets for when we go to bed tonight; always a highlight and the day before Eid, it’s just what the heart needs. Nabeel’s giving the floors a thorough mop today; we have our robovac but we thought for Eid, we’d do a traditional, rigorous “pocha” (mop) as they say in Urdu, to really scrub things down.
I’ll wipe down the kitchen counters and freshen up the fridge. For an entire month, the kitchen has been the heart of our home, the place we’ve prepared our limited, disciplined meals. And having taken out all the mindless snacking, I really got to see it this time as the true source of our nourishment, the center of our health. I want to start with a fresh, clean kitchen.
And then all the other usual cleanings – dust the furniture, fluff up the cushions, water the plants.
I feel like, even if no one’s coming over, cleaning, tidying up your space sets the tone for the rest of the year so beautifully. We spend so many days purifying and cleansing our life throughout Ramadan, and starting fresh with a clean space, clear mind personally feels like the best way to step into the coming days.
It’s lightly raining right now. And I’m feeling the festivity in the air. I know many of you don’t or can’t celebrate Eid with a lot of cheer as we see the majority of the world do; either you’re too far from family, haven’t made the right friends yet or just don’t have happy memories associated with it. I understand because in my childhood, I too did not get to celebrate Eid as most people do.
But I’ve learnt to rewrite my Eid story. The end of Ramadan is the climax of an intense spiritual journey and Eid is a well-deserved reward and gift.
So, while it’s a day for the community, it’s also a day for me 🌙
We’ve built our social circle here slowly, but I’ve also celebrated Eid even when it was just me. I hope you dress up, enjoy a nice meal and can find that festivity.
2. RAMADAN AND SLOW GRATIFICATION🌙
I was thinking a few days ago how Ramadan is a masterclass in learning slow gratification. You’re able to strengthen the faculties in yourself that teach you how to delay immediate pleasures for more meaningful rewards.
Fasting from dawn to sunset isn’t about deprivation, it’s about liberation. You learn to resist impulses, release yourself from unhealthy attachments.
In a world where instant gratification gradually wears away at who we are – fast food, fast shopping, fast meals, fast content – Ramadan comes to heal you, restore you. Everything is earned in Ramadan.
Even our spiritual connect builds up over these 30 days, collecting away like that precious bank account that you make daily deposits into of patience, gratitude and trust. I think we often think that with transformative practices, we build ourselves, but it’s that we actually reveal ourselves. Finding my way back to me.
Tomorrow morning, we’ll get to enjoy our first cup of breakfast chai after a full 30 days. I’d tell you I’ve missed it terribly but really not? A cup of chai is beautiful, and I deeply value it. But I think, the past few years, when it comes to things like this, Ramadan has really helped me in letting go of unhealthy attachment and instead, developing wholesome appreciation.
3. EID GIFTS 🌙
Enough of the serious talk, now for some fun stuff. I spent some time last week wrapping up some Eid gifts for friends and family. We shipped out a package for Nabeel’s niece and nephew who live in a different city here in Australia. We also 3d-printed something for a few of our close friends and I am so excited for them to see it because it turned out really nice.
I love giving Eid gifts, but I also make sure that they’re not above a certain value. I think it’s good to be conscious within gift-giving as well, because even though we want to sometimes gift the world to people we love, it also creates a sentiment in the receiver that they may feel compelled to return.
And I think as long as we gift things that stand more as gestures and not monetarily expensive things, I think it retains a certain joy in gift-giving and protects it from turning into an obligation that has to be fulfilled. Of course, not always, but most of the times.
I’ll share what we 3d-printed later on my Instastories once our friends actually have them, so you can come see them there if you like.
Btw you can also give a subscription to A Slow Afternoon as an Eid gift :)
4. EID DESSERT FOR NEIGHBORS 🌙
Later this week, I’m also planning to make some dessert for our neighbors on the second day of Eid and drop off a few boxes. We have the sweetest, kindest neighbors who also share on their important days like Diwali & Christmas, and so I love doing the same for them on Eid.
I’m thinking to make one of my really popular recipes, it’s what I call a pineapple walnut toffee and will add some twine and small “Eid Mubarak” notes :)
5. EID PLANS🌙
And tonight, we’ll be celebrating Chaand Raat (night of the new moon). For those who may not know, it’s the night before Eid, and Nabeel and I have a small tradition where he puts on really sloppy henna on my hands, and we listen to music, take pictures, have chai and just chat. We’ll also iron our clothes for Eid prayers tomorrow morning.
And for Eid dinner, we’re going to our friend’s place, she’s cooking biryani for us which I’m very excited about. We’ll eat, take pictures together, and just celebrate after this very momentous month. I’ll share some bits on Stories.
Before I go, I wanted to share this achingly beautiful piece from my friend Samira about Ramadan. She writes so poetically, and I think mothers with young children will specifically love this piece for the rawness it carries and the hope it holds.
If you’re celebrating Eid, I hope you have a wholesome, beautiful few days in the best way for you. And for everyone else, thank you for coming along with me during this month and letting me share a very deep part of who I am.
Hope you had a good weekend. See you next month :)
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Thank you for subscribing. Eid Mubarak. I’ll see you soon.
Music Credit: The music in my voiceover background is ‘Milky’ by Ninn Tendo.