EID

Apologies for being a delinquent blogger for five days now. Between Eid and, well, Eid, there was no time for blogging or doing much of anything besides planning Eid festivities.

Eid al-Fitr is the religious holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. Muslims fast from food, drink, sex and smoking from sunset to sunrise over the course of the month. Abstinence from worldly pleasures is supposed to facilitate a closer, more personal experience of God as well as encourage sympathy for those who are less fortunate. Ramadan provides a great respite from the distracting insanity of the world and one can't help but miss it when it comes to a close.

Eid is something like Christmas: families make that requisite annual trip to a house of worship, give gifts--although only to the little ones--and wear fetching, usually tradional and ALWAYS uncomfortable (well, uncomfortable to me, anyway) clothes (those gorgeous outfits I had tailored in Pakistan have now, officially, reverted to the villanous roles that traditional garb have occupied for most of the 27 years of my life. I was changing into a t-shirt and jeans every opportunity I found yesterday, even if only for fifteen minutes at a time). Last, but not least, as with most of the religious holidays of the world, faces are stuffed, all in the name of God (oh, gluttony, you great equalizer...).

It was good times. Now I'm tired and kicking myself for not having taken the day off to recover.