Event during Eid?
May 21, 2024 3:52 PM   Subscribe

Some friends and I are starting up an event series (public discussions on intimacy in all its forms). We are planning to do a bi-weekly-ish series over the summer. Looking at venue availability, our own calendars, etc, it would be appealling to have the event on the evening of June 18 or 19, which is during Eid al-Adha. Trying to figure out whether to reschedule, if there's a way to make it work, etc.

Trying get a subjective sense of how big of a deal this is. If you are someone who observes Eid, would you be annoyed if people had an event on this date?

Would doing the event on one of these dates make it inaccessible to Muslims?

Is one of those dates better/worse than the other?

Are there ways to make the event more accommodating on those dates?
posted by ManInSuit to Religion & Philosophy (4 answers total)
 
Response by poster: (we are in Toronto, it that matters.. Sun sets *late* here this time of year...)
posted by ManInSuit at 3:53 PM on May 21


I wrote this whole thing out without checking the dates. It looks like the first day of Eid al-Adha will be on the 17th or 18th. I'm relying on Google here because none of my local mosques have even put up anything about it on their websites yet. Technically it is a multi-day thing but everyone will be back to "normal" after the 1st day. So if you picked the June 19 date I think you'd be fine whenever Eid actually ends up starting.

Here's what I had already written:
So Eid al-Adha is an Eid but isn't as big of a holiday event as the one at the end of Ramadan. People will go to special prayers in the morning and may take the day off work but if something interesting like your event is happening in the evening they may just go to that instead of whatever family dinner was planned and it generally won't be a big deal.

My kid has volleyball practice on Tuesday evenings and she'll be going to that even if Eid does end up being on the 18th. I'll be going to work but will leave somewhere close to 5 (which is rare for me) and I'll probably go watch her practice because I usually don't get a chance to.

Also the fact that we can't just decide on one day for Eid means that we're generally more understanding about non-Muslims not being able to schedule around it.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:39 PM on May 21 [1 favorite]


Well, Eid-ul-fitr feels bigger and like a whole big deal because of the month of fasting preceding it makes the entire runup to it feel more felt as the community will be fasting. Technically and religiously Eid-ul-adha is actually the bigger deal because it celebrates the end of a major pilgrimage season (the haj) and the not-in-Mecca communities would be busy with the communal prayers, and all the activities relating to the animal sacrifices (the sacrifice itself and then the portioning out of the meat to the community and the needy etc).

I do know minoritarian/western Muslim groups are more accommodating however (scheduling the sacrifice on the nearest weekend for example) so they'll only take the morning off if it's on a weekday. But the "day" itself , like the Catholics and Orthodox folks, start the evening before.

The main problem in trying to be respectful is the fact that the day of the two eids itself are still culturally decided by the moon sighting, BUT a lot of communities have already predetermined their calculations with a calendar date pencilled in, but it's just not formalized. You could try and have a sense how Torontonians have been like by checking what's their Eid-ul-fitr dates of this year and the last and last year's Eid-ul-adha and see if it's exactly like the projected dates (because local politics is a thing).

Malaysia has a pretty robust calculation system in place (we got burned a couple of years back when the moon-sighting pushed the date earlier) so fwiw our first day will fall on the 17th, which probably makes North American timezones fall on the 18th.

But basically that does mean, people will have the most cultural and religious events on the evening before and the morning of, since this year it will fall on a weekday regardless.
posted by cendawanita at 3:41 AM on May 22


I'm assuming Eid will be on Monday June 17th and have booked that day off work. I'll be back in the office on day 2. If it's not the 17th, it will start on the 18th. In my community, it's the first day that's most important. I would definitely not be annoyed if people had an event on Eid, it wouldn't even occur to me to feel that way. I'd have to decline if it took place on day 1, but on day 2 I would attend.
posted by guessthis at 6:32 AM on May 22


« Older Stovetop insulin?   |   YANMD but help me figure out why my kid is sick so... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments