Candy and henna are among the traditions of Algerians celebrating Eid
Forty-year-old Algerian Sarra insists on dyeing her children’s hands with henna on Eid night, as her mother used to do with her and her brothers when they were young.
Sarah, a mother of three children, said in an interview with the Arab World News Agency that the henna ritual is special when Eid coincides with their presence at her grandmother’s house in the old Kasbah neighborhood in the capital, and that it preserves this heritage that many women have begun to abandon.
There are still many Algerian families who adhere to traditional customs to welcome Eid al-Fitr, which have been passed down through generations, including dyeing children’s hands with henna, preparing sweets, and buying clothes and gifts, especially for the little ones, in order to bring joy to their hearts.
On the night of Eid, and immediately after the sighting of the Shawwal crescent is broadcast and the first day of Eid is announced, mothers in most Algerian regions rush to decorate their children’s hands with henna.
Mothers and grandmothers place henna tablets on the palms of their children or dye their right index fingers. As for girls, they dye their entire hand, and many of them engrave henna on their daughters’ hands.
As for the Eid program for Algerians, it begins with going out to designated squares and mosques to perform Eid prayers. After they are finished, visits between family members begin and revolve around Eid sweets and the clothes that the children show off.
The Eid atmosphere begins to loom on the horizon as the last days of the month of Ramadan begin, as most Algerians are engaged in preparing for Eid necessities in terms of preparing sweets and new clothes.
Food stores, supermarkets, and stores specialized in selling candy-making supplies are crowded with large numbers of customers, who go there in the last days of Ramadan to purchase their basic needs that go into making Eid candy.
Eid sweets are a necessity for Algerian families. As families prepare to receive guests who come for Eid visits.
Many Algerian homes are turned into sweets-making workshops, especially at night, when women are busy preparing breakfast in the morning.
As soon as the breakfast table is set and the men leave the house, either for Tarawih prayers or staying up late, the women begin preparing special Eid sweets.
However, with social transformations and the increased exit of women into the labor market, the features of Algerian families began to change. This emerged in the field of activity of providing ready-made Eid sweets.
Women who work in the sweets industry market their products through social media.
Umm Amani, who prepares traditional sweets in her home on the outskirts of the capital, told the Arab World News Agency that most of the orders related to Eid revolve around traditional sweets, especially “al-maqrout” of all kinds, and “qaryoosh,” and she offers it for sale at a price of 50 dinars (about 0.37 dinars). US dollars) per piece.
There are many people like Umm Amani; However, many Algerian women, including male and female employees, prefer to prepare Eid sweets with their own hands in a family setting.
The ritual of preparing sweets for Algerians is the pillar of customs in the last days of the month of Ramadan. Algerian Assia, a woman in her seventies, insists on preparing whatever traditional sweets she can, even though the prices of the materials she uses have risen in recent years.
The prices of materials used in the candy industry, especially those related to filling and decoration, have increased in recent years. The price of peanuts ranges between 500 and 600 dinars per kilogram, walnuts range from 1,000 to 1,200 dinars, almonds range from 2,000 to 2,200 dinars, and pistachios range from 4,000 dinars.
Eid sweets are essential. Because whoever visits his family must eat it; Whoever hosts, his table must be decorated with it for his guests, as Asia confirms.
Amal, an employee in her forties, told the Arab World News Agency that despite the lack of time in front of her professional obligations and duties towards her husband and daughter, and her eagerness to care for her elderly and sick mother, preparing Eid sweets with her own hands is “sacred” to her.
It has been noted in recent years, especially after the spread of the use of social media, that there has been a development in the type of sweets that Algerians eat, as some traditional items that were previously sacred to Algerian families began to disappear from the list of dessert items.
Among the most important traditional items that Algerian families were keen to prepare for Eid in the past are “maqrot,” “charak,” “qaryoush,” “samsa,” “baklava,” “araish,” “qandalat,” “dziriat,” and others.
However, at the present time, new varieties have begun to rely on physical beauty more than taste, replacing the existence of these traditional varieties.
The controversy over Zakat al-Fitr is renewed in Algeria every year, between those who see the necessity of paying it as food from the livelihood of the people of the country, and those who say that its value can be paid in cash.
The value of zakat in Algeria this year is 150 dinars per person, according to what was announced earlier by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments. However, this year, the consequences of the Gaza war entered the discussion on the issue of zakat.
In line with the fatwa of a number of scholars, who said that the residents of Gaza have priority over Muslim zakat, several charitable organizations in Algeria were quick to announce their collection and pledge to deliver it to those who deserve it in the Gaza Strip within their legal deadlines before the Eid prayer.
Indeed, the campaign witnessed a response from many Algerians. The association running the campaign said in a post on its Facebook page that preparations have begun on the ground to distribute zakat to those eligible in the northern Gaza Strip, the Central Governorate, Rafah, Deir al-Balah and other areas of the Gaza Strip.
(One US dollar equals 134.77 Algerian dinars)
