Sweet Eid

By Marifi Jara

QUELIMANE, Mozambique–Around 7:30 in the morning of the first day of October, we received a plate full of sweets: there was a slice of soft chocolate cake, some small square pastries topped with desiccated coconut, icing sugar, or candy sprinkles; several tiny cookies; and some other small bars flavored with delightful spices I cannot quite identify.

It was such a pleasant surprise but we felt clueless from whom it came from. And why?

Is it in celebration of the Eid al-Fitr? I asked aloud.

Indeed it was, and it turned out to be from one of our neighbors, a family living across the street, on the upper floor of a building occupied on the ground by one of the offices of the Ministerio de Pescas (Ministry of Fisheries). It hasn’t really sunk in on us that we have neighbors there, although I have previously noticed some children going up a side stairs on that building. Actually, I must admit we were — are — quite apathetic about our neighbors because our house is not exactly located within a residential area. There are more government office buildings around us than homes and most of our local and expat friends live in areas several blocks away.

Anyway, so we said thank you to the teen-aged boy who delivered it and shared the bounty with everyone in the household. (And I made a mental note to give some cake back next time I go baking – and perhaps spend some time getting acquainted with our neighbors.)

We actually knew it was Eid that day because one of the guards assigned to our house, Mote, is a Muslim. About six weeks ago, as part of my efforts to speak Portuguese (which I still do badly), I tried a conversation with him about the Ramadan that was coming up. I asked him several questions and from what I picked up from his answers, I believe he was actually looking forward to it and that he did not think that the four weeks of fasting between sunrise and sunset is not difficult at all.

I wish I spoke Portuguese more fluently already because I was curious to ask more about their traditions having just finished the book Three Cups of Tea, the true story of American Greg Mortenson who has been building secular schools in Pakistan and recently in Afghanistan in a “mission to promote peace”. I guess I should just try again later on.

But then perhaps encouraged by that conversation, Mote asked us a couple of days later if we don’t mind if he recites (actually he chants) his prayers at certain hours if he is on daytime duty during the Ramadan. No problem, of course, we said. We can actually hear, though not at disturbing levels, the regular five times a day chanting summons from the central mosque in the city which is about less than a kilometer away from our house. There are several other mosques around town and so are Catholic churches, the main one being actually just two blocks away from us.

Similar to back home in the Philippines, Islam was around here, brought by Arab traders, before Catholicism was introduced by the European colonizers. Also, majority of the South Asian migrant population here practice Islam — like the owner of one of my favorite shops here (which would be a biggish sari-sari store that sells a hodge-podge of goods from grocery items to electric fans and cloth), Elias (looks of Indian descent and one of the very few who speaks English! And he has some of the best prices around!), who closes his store for about 10-15 minutes during the Islam prayer times in the day (he warned me about this so I’ll know when not to go) and walks over to the nearby mosque for his religious duties.

Here, unlike back home, there are no areas, like Mindanao, where religious beliefs are at the core of serious armed conflicts.

In 1996, I remember my first feature story assignment as a neophyte reporter was an interview with Amina Rasul, daughter of former Senator Santanina Rasul, who was then leading and organizing the first officially recognized national celebration of the Eid in the Philippines. We have actually taken a step further than that with the recognition of the Eid al-fitr as a national holiday through a law (Republic Act 9177) passed in 2002. But sadly, the realities of prejudice, cultural conceit, religious extremism, and plain old ugly politicking remain at work. And that is of course true not just in the Philippines.

I wonder, will there ever come a time (hopefully in a very near future) when there would be less fighting and more sweets sharing?

(Readers may reach columnist at marifijara@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/
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