Re: Halloween and other occasions
I have grown up in the Middle East and in the UK and never have I seen gora's trying to copy our rituals or trying to be like us, even in the middle east.
Its only us desi's who love to act like gora's most of the time. And thats what we teach our kids too unfortunately.
I grew up in Canada.....might as well have been born here.
I've seen many non-desi people appreciate our culture and traditions. The folks in my office never miss an opportunity to recognize Eid and say "Eid Mubarak" to me.
Of course they are not going to start celebrating Eid like we do because we are still in a minority here. Our holiday is not a public holiday nor is it a commercially charged event for them. So I don't expect them to "adopt" Eid.
Majority festivities that people celebrate are rooted in a religion, Islam, Jewism, Christianity, hinduism.
hindu's celebrate their festivals with so much zeal that their festivities become eye catching and awe inspiring , the same goes with the Christian events ..
Unfortunately muslims dont really enjoy festivities the way they should , coz they are too busy planning Christmas and thanksgiving parties !
I disagree.
We do celebrate but we do it in our homes and our tight knit social circles. It is only now we are coming together as a group and organizing melas and Eid festivals on a large scale.
When I was younger we used to have Eid Milan parties......either they were held in private homes or if we really managed to get a lot of people involved then we rented banquet facilities and even had music parties. (We're actually going to one such event tomorrow night.)
We never missed celebrating any of our events because we were too busy with Halloween or Christmas.
Growing up in the UK, my grandfather never used to celebrate any of this stuff at home and I have turned out to be a balanced person, I havnt lost out on anything ! My Christian friends would celebrate Xmas , I didnt .. I just wished them well but never tried to become part of them. similarly , dadajee would ask me to share sweets with my friends over Eid time , they enjoyed the sweets wished me well and never tried becoming a part of my festivity ..
Growing up in Canada, my family always celebrated all of this stuff at home and I have turned out to be a balanced person, I havnt lost out on anything ! My Christian friends would celebrate Xmas , I celebrated with them .. I wished them well and exchanged gifts with them but never tried to become part of them. similarly , ammi and papa would ask me to share sweets with my friends over Eid time , they enjoyed the sweets wished me well, joined our festivities and some even were interested enough to try and learn about Islam.... Some in our social circle actually converted Ah! ..
*So really its down to the parents *, how strongly they feel for their own Islamic festivities. And wether they choose to ignore the roots of the festivities they are celebrating.
Really that's what it comes down to.
Since becoming a parent I have decided that I would rather expose/teach my child about everything and ensure that she has a strong foundation at home to fall back on. That way, with all knowledge at her disposal, she will make an informed decision about her choices in life iA.
i’ve seen parents put some effort for their children about eid and as a consequence these children actually get excited about that day. it’s easy to whine but so much more difficult to actually do something. contrast this with how much there is a hoopla over valentine’s day, christmas, halloween, easter, thanksgiving etc. do we really expect our children to walk around blind when they are bombarded with these events in schools, tv, malls etc?