Happy eid?
The economy has made the eid more burdensome than joyful for many this year
photo: Ayman Ibrahim
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Carpenter Ismail Ahmed is ashamed to face his four children, writes Shaden Shehab . Eid Al-Adha (The feast of the sacrifice) is on the way, and he can't afford to buy his children the gifts that usually accompany this festive occasion. "The sad thing," he said, "is they did not ask for too much. My eldest son wants a new pair of shoes, one of my daughters wants to eat lamb and my seven-year-old daughter wants a new dress. As for my wife, she only wants me to fulfil their demands."
Eid Al-Adha is celebrated every year by Muslims as a way of remembering Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son at God's command. According to the Qur'an, Ibrahim was ordered by God to slaughter his son Ismail; as difficult as this was, the prophet abided nonetheless. Just as he was about to do so, God replaced the boy with a sheep.
To commemorate this, families sacrifice an animal, and share its meat with relatives and the needy. Most Muslims also celebrate the eid by going out with family and friends, and handing out the eidiya, a monetary gift given to children by parents and relatives.
While poorer families have always struggled to do all of the above, the state of today's economy has made doing even part of it nearly impossible. Even the middle class, whose charitable contributions to the poor often covered some of the gaps, appear to be giving less this year. Ateyat Mohamed, a maid, said she usually gets money and meat from the families she works for, "but it looks like there will be far less this eid". Mohamed said she "understands that it is not that they have become stingy, but that everything is very expensive now".
The inflation people are complaining about today was triggered by the floatation of the Egyptian pound in January 2003, a move that resulted in a massive increase in the prices of food, clothes and other essential goods that depend in some form or other on imports.
Some have made compromises with their families in order to help deal with the eid and its obligations. Lawyer Mo'men Nour said he and his children "agreed to use the money we would have spent on eid gifts for outings instead". Nour said people had "to learn to adjust themselves to today's realities -- otherwise we might either go crazy or fall into a serious depression". He said his family would be eating lamb at his mother's house on the first day of eid. "As for the children's new clothes, I'll be getting them gradually."
Others opted for less expensive shopping options in an attempt to keep things fairly normal. At lower-priced market places like Ataba or Wekalat Al-Balah, housewife Nagwa Ezzeddin said, "you can buy two children's outfits for LE100. It's not the quality my children are used to wearing, but it's better than getting nothing." Ezzeddin also said that this way, her family will also be able to "get a small sheep, and the children will not feel they are worse off than our friends and relatives".
Shepherd Radwan Mohamed, whose flock is parked in Nasr City, said, "there are not a lot of people buying, and the ones who are, are choosing lighter sheep." The price of one kilo of lamb currently ranges from LE16-17, and the smallest sheep weighs about 40 kilos. A week before the feast, however, Mohamed said "it was too early to judge because many people like to buy their sheep just a few days before the eid because they don't have a place to keep it."
One butcher said that, "people are buying meat this year instead of live sheep. Everyone buys meat on an occasion like this." But even with meat, prices have gone up significantly since last year's eid -- LE25 for lamb, LE29 for beef to a soaring LE35 for veal.
Civil servant Ahmed El-Nadi said, "eid has become agonising for our family -- a reminder that we cannot afford basic commodities. Eid celebrations are for the rich, not us," he said. "With the hike in prices and my son in thanawiya ama (secondary school exams) this year, which has forced us to hire private tutors who charge LE30 per hour, we are satisfied with whatever God grants us."
Even the relatively well off are complaining. Accountant Soraya Nadim said she "bought two outfits for my four-year-old and six-year-old for LE300. They are not exactly excellent quality or the latest fashions, but that has become normal. We also bought a sheep for about LE1000, but if the prices continue to rise like this we will soon be poor, since our salaries have not gone up in the meantime."
Porter Yehia Atwa, perhaps, is the last of a dying breed. "As long as my family and I are in good health," he told the Weekly, "nothing else matters. With or without meat and new clothes, we will spend a happy eid inshallah."
