Eid Mubarak! Friday, April 21 is a day of celebration for Muslims in France, who celebrate Eid-el-Fitr, the breaking of the fast, and the end of Ramadan.
Confirmation of the date was given Thursday evening April 20 in France by the French Council for Muslim Worship (CFCM), at the end of the “night of doubt”. This ceremony determines the end of the month of Ramadan by the observation of the new moon (with the naked eye, by a telescope or astronomical calculations) and the beginning of the month of Shawwal.
But this date is not always the same for all countries, which do not have the same method of calculation or observation. The celebration is to be held Friday in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and other countries in the Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Syria, Jordan…). On the other hand, in other countries, the religious authorities, who were unable to see the lunar crescent during the night of doubt, postponed Eid to Saturday, April 22. This is the case in Morocco, Indonesia (the largest Muslim country), Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
Its date is shifted by about ten days each year, because it is fixed on the Hegira calendar, which only has 354 or 355 days per year. Thus, it was celebrated on May 2 in 2022. This day is not a public holiday in France.
This is to mark the breaking of the fast observed during the holy month of Ramadan, which began on March 23. The day of celebration is therefore marked by a prayer at the mosque, but also by the exchange of wishes, pastries, tea and small gifts. Traditionally, believers put on new clothes, offer each other gifts and pay alms, zakat al-fitr, intended for the poor. Its amount, 7 euros, was fixed in 2018.
Aïd-el-Fitr, the feast of the break-up, is also called Aïd-el-Séghir, which means “little feast”, as opposed to the “great feast” that is Aïd-el-Kébir. Also called “Eid el-Adha”, the latter is a commemoration of the sacrifice recounted in the Koran and in the Old Testament: as Abraham prepares to kill his son to obey God, an angel replaces the body of the child by that of a ram. In remembrance, Muslims perform a ritual slaughter of sheep – a practice that is not performed for the end of Ramadan. Only the spoken prayer and the formula of wishes (Eid Mubarak, or “Happy Holiday”) are the same for both celebrations.
This article is an update of a previous version published in 2018.