When two people sighted the sliver of a new moon last night, Eid-el-Fitr began. This is when Muslims thank Allah for having given them the endurance to observe fast and obey His commandment during the holy month of Ramadan. This is a 1-3 day festival, which begins with prayer, and is celebrated slightly differently depending on country of location. In all countries, however this celebration of the end of a month-long fast is full of sumptuous meals, family gatherings and prayer.

In Egypt, before morning prayer, people are encouraged to drink milk and eat dates, as Mohamed did. Then, after prayers, children receive gifts and elaborate breakfasts occur.

Sarah writing frorm Egypt, tells us

After the Eid prayers, families gather for an elaborate breakfast, which can include traditional Egyptian dishes, like fuul, eggs, cheese and different kinds of drinks. Some families opt for salted fish and herring.
Islam teachings stress the importance of family ties and community closeness so it is a tradition to visit close family members after breakfast before heading home to rest and relax until the afternoon.
The family then gets together again for lunch, which is traditionally a delicious seafood spread. Most people try not to eat seafood during the fasting month because it can leave you thirsty and hungry the next day. So after a fish-free month, people feast on a seafood meal because they know they can have as much water as they want the next day. And that is the joy of Eid El-Fitr.

Judit shows pictures of an Eid-el-Fitr parade in Jaffa.

Nour, a writer in Lebanon describes her poignant Eid visit to her grandparents' graves with her father.

IzzyMo spent Ramadan in Dubai, although she lives stateside. As a member of American Muslims Against Terrorism she laments the violence on all sides of struggle as she describes Ramadan in Dubai.

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And Coming Up : Ghandi's Birthday (Thursday, Oct 2nd)

Ghandi was called "Mahatma" Ghandi because Mahatma means "Great Soul". He was raised within the Jain branch of the Hindu tradition. He was raised to value vegetarianism, compassion, fasting as a means of purification , and tolerance among different creeds.

His family sent him to England at age 19, in an attempt to have him train for a career in law, but he was not a fine student, and hdid not share their interest in that career. Through time spent with the Vegetarian Society in London, he began to met people from other cultures and traditions who shared many of his values.

After a few failed jobs, he landed in South Africa. Wikipedia states

In South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination directed at Indians. Initially, he was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg, after refusing to move from the first class to a third class coach while holding a valid first class ticket. Traveling further on by stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to make room for a European passenger. He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being barred from many hotels. In another of many similar events, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered him to remove his turban, which Gandhi refused. These incidents have been acknowledged as a turning point in his life, serving as an awakening to contemporary social injustice and helping to explain his subsequent social activism. It was through witnessing firsthand the racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa that Gandhi started to question his people's status within the British Empire, and his own place in society.

Ghandi's role in India's independence is so profound that October 2nd, his birthday, is a national holiday. The United Nations even decalered October 2nd, International Non Violence Day"

Bitchlet in Bombay, speaks of Ghandi's non-violent resistance.

There are so many wonderful Ghandi quotes. I will leave you with some of my favorites, as they circumscribe a life better than my words ever could.

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.

I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.

I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.

There are seven sins in the world: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice and politics without principle.

If you don't find God in the next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further.

Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.

There is no path to peace. Peace is the path.