hayit traditions
Nov. 11th, 2004 08:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
merchimerchI found this neat article about Afghan food and Eid traditions on a listserv:
http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/exclude/10
It struck me that Afghan traditions are quite different from Uzbek Hayit (Eid) ones. In Uzbekistan, for the 3 days after Ramadan all the women who got married that year stay home and prepare lots of sweet. During the course of the 3 days women, both strangers and friends and family drop in. The new bride with then bow to them as she did to her family during the kelin salom portion of the ritual. Then everyone sits down and eats and chats. There is always a table just overflowing with sugary goodness - no protein or vegetables in sight. For some reason, Eid for women is all about providing as much sugar to your guests as possible.
For men in Uzbekistan, those who have had a relative die in the past year stay home and prepare some kind of feast (I don't know the details cuz I'm not a man). Then the male friends and family go and pay respects to the family of the deceased. I have no idea what kind of food they would make, I just know that it is a significantly more sombre occasion.
Because of this gender difference, Hayit is one of the favorite holidays of many of the women I know - they think it is the best fun because they are free to go call on lots of people and pig out on sugar and it is a lively, festive time.
http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/exclude/10
It struck me that Afghan traditions are quite different from Uzbek Hayit (Eid) ones. In Uzbekistan, for the 3 days after Ramadan all the women who got married that year stay home and prepare lots of sweet. During the course of the 3 days women, both strangers and friends and family drop in. The new bride with then bow to them as she did to her family during the kelin salom portion of the ritual. Then everyone sits down and eats and chats. There is always a table just overflowing with sugary goodness - no protein or vegetables in sight. For some reason, Eid for women is all about providing as much sugar to your guests as possible.
For men in Uzbekistan, those who have had a relative die in the past year stay home and prepare some kind of feast (I don't know the details cuz I'm not a man). Then the male friends and family go and pay respects to the family of the deceased. I have no idea what kind of food they would make, I just know that it is a significantly more sombre occasion.
Because of this gender difference, Hayit is one of the favorite holidays of many of the women I know - they think it is the best fun because they are free to go call on lots of people and pig out on sugar and it is a lively, festive time.
