I grew up in the West.
While my parents made the best possible efforts to expose me to Pakistani culture, I’m sure that there are many traditions that I missed out on because I was so far away from the community. I’d like to hear about such events and traditions.
Here are some examples:
In Ramzan we used to make iftaari and share a beautifully decorated tray with our neighbours.
On Eid-ul-Fitr we would all gather as a family and we would ask our elders for Eidee and then argue over how much we deserved because of how many rozay we kept.
Please list those occasions that you recall. Perhaps it will remind me how much fun we had…
My mom gave khatam on every jumay-raat (thursdays). She would make zarda/puloa. Tv had to be off for 30-40 mins, and we all had to listen till she was finished. It wasn’t fun but it became a routine, and eventually we looked forward to it.
Only PA days, which usually falls on fridays, my mom would take us all to the masjid for jumma prayer, She insisted afterwards that we help a zarorat-mand outside the mosque (giving money)
Sharing iftaari with neighbours was a usual for us as well.
Chaand raat outing was a must, my did insisted on taking my sister and I for mehndi and then food/kashmiri chai afterwards (little brothers had to be dragged along too)
Qurbani ghosht labelling/distributing was another big thing we did growing up.
Oh the memories! Thank you Muzna for this thread, we have the best of the both worlds, so lucky
Iftari sharing is such a beautiful tradition…I love it! My mom also distributes to most if not all of our local mosques.
Qurbani gosht distribution is also a good one.
Eidi.
Presents on Eid.
Every single summer…my mom’s schedule was jam packed with meelad invites because she is a naat-khwan. Of course, we had to go. Of course, as kids we were annoyed. Anyway, most of my Urdu language skills came from that yearly drill session for three months straight where she forced me to read the Urdu to follow along with her. This became a tradition in our home. I learned many of the classic naatein from those summers and practically memorized them. Its still pretty crazy every summer (slowed down a bit) but now we go because it makes her happy and it reminds us of our grandmother. I know lots frown upon it but maybe this will continue in the future…would be amazing if it did
Dressing up on 14th Aug, jhandiyan lagaana, milli naghmay gaana
Pahaariyan dekhne jaana
Reciting naat on Quran khwaani/khatam
On one of the nights of ibaadat, praying as a group of girls
Jumma prayers/eid ki namaz in big groups … and it used to be fun cuz everyone knew everyone else
Khatam ka food lene jaana (kheer or namkeen chaawal or channay ki dal)
Baarish main pakoray banaana aur sometimes baarish main nahaana
Sardiyon main koylay pahaana (cuz heater was unreliable due to electricity outages)
Garmiyon main haath ka pankha jhulaana (jab light nahi hoti thi)
Charpaai pe chatt pe sona aur raat ko baarish ho jaani tu sab kuch samait ke neeche ko dorna
Garmiyon main sehan main dhoop senkna aur fresh fruits kaat ke sab ko serve karna (we had a guava tree and mango tree in our backyard)
Raat ko 8 baje PTV pe drama dekhna with the whole family…daadi ami ki legs dabaana lekin asal main drama main khoye hona
Home economics ke school projects aur saare ghar se help lena… balkay exams ke duraan, being treated like a VIP, khaana/juice etc sab saamne paish hona aur saari saari raat jaag ke parhna
I’m sure there is more, but just wanted to say, traditions are not bound to a location. The family carries traditions with them wherever in the world they go. We don’t have any extended family in Canada and certain things are not applicable to the environment here (like the open house concept, electricity issues, knowing everyone in your community on a first name basis, etc) but there are lots of traditions we still engage in because they’re ingrained so deeply in us. =)
as old as me or even more 