Thursday, September 16, 2010

Eid

So, lets talk about Eid in Cape Town:

Eid in Cape Town is amazing. Although its not an official holiday, most Muslims are able to get the day off work and celebrate with their families and friends. Eid preparations start about two weeks before Eid, generally after the 15th night of Ramadaan.

General preparations include a complete spring clean of the home, painting inside and out, washing windows, changing all curtains and bedding, SHOPPING for Eid clothes and special Eid groceries. Most mom's get extremely stressed by their kids wanting a very specific outfit, and having to co-ordinate all of the Eid efforts. Usually the house where the grandparents are staying at (like all other Muslims, Cape Townians generally do not send the elderly to old age homes, but the eldest son or daughter usually looks after the parents in their old age). This is the house that usually has the most visitors on Eid as well.

From the time that thousands of Muslims gather on the BEACH, in a public area, to have iftar together, pray maghrib and then sight the moon, the excitement about Eid starts building.



There are two Muslim radio stations who broadcast the Athaan, and various other programmes in Cape Town. These radio stations usually broadcast the moonsighting event live from Three Anchor Bay. There is lots of excitement around this event, it has become a picnic of note for the year and a sort of unofficial kick-off to the Eid celebrations.

After the moon has been sighted, and the official announcement is made that Eid is the next day, women rush their families home to start with the food and other preparations. It is at this time that the men usually realise that their thawb's need to be ironed (lol) and that they need white socks to match their thawb.

That evening, women prepare the meat for the next day... and a pie for 'after eid prayer' breakfast. But the days's menu will be discussed later on..

Men usually have two outfits for the day. They wear a thawb to the mosque in the morning, and then change to apants and shirt or suit for the rest of the day. Lately, men seem to prefer the thobe as an all day outfit. Women usually also follow the same idea, with a decorative abaya for the morning, and a pretty dress or suit later on in the day, depending. Women who are 'hosting' for the day find it easier to keep the abaya on and not worry with a formal dress and heels. Children, the same.

All children are given money and candy on Eid, and some children, especially those who have fasted all month for the first time, may get an extra special toy or treat as a reward. Any child knocking on any door will get their Eid money. This also means that non-Muslim children will join the rounds to score on Eid day.

So, the MENU and Eid day routine:

After Eid Salah men go to the graveyard to pray for the dead, and then they come home for breakfast. They then have tea/coffee and steak and kidney pie. Also, fresh baked bread and grated corned beef sandwiches are on offer, as well as cream cakes, pastries and biscuits. Some homes serve a sweet milk drink called "seer" and have more indian-inspired traditional treats like burfee, dodery, chana magaj, and so on. I personally had some chicken pie and of the most diviine pavlova. Other homes serve some prawns and guacamole, depending on the preference of the household.

After breakfast, you start with greeting your neighbours. The term used for this, is going to say 'selamat'/'give mubarik'. Text messages abound, and the networks are usually held up by well wishers sending Eid messages. After the neighbour stint, one moves around the area to greet family, or stays home to receive visitors, depending on which your preference is.

In every home, the table is laid with little nibbles for any and every guest that may come to visit. The nibbles include: chocolates, home-baked biscuits, candies, nuts, dried fruit, something called 'meebos', also can be described as dried fruit, but rolled in sugar. The nibbles are accompanied by juices and soda. In most homes, the table will be covered with a net to keep flies away from the food and its is uncovered as soon as guests arrive. Oh. And I have to mention 'slangerchees'. This is a savoury 'thing' made with flour and water, pressed through a rice colander to form little 'ribbons' and fried. Its then spiced and really tastes great!

Lunch is huge deal. Eid lunch is usually spent with your parents and as much family as you can gather. So, whats on the menu? Usually a leg of lamb, roasted. The leg is usually accompanied with a sweet yellow-coloured rice, roasted potato and vegetables. Sheep tongue is also an essential part of this meal. Then theres usually also roast/fried chicken or a roasted stuffed turkey/duck, accompanied with gravy and fresh salad. Other families have a biryani or curry as well, but no Eid table is complete without copious amounts of roasted meat.

Then, dessert: Usually three of four different kinds of pudding. Favourites are cheesecake, strawberry pudding, caramel and mint fridge tart for the summer, and if Eid is in winter then hot favourites are malva pudding, milk tart and bread pudding. Ice cream is always on offer for the kids, and adults usually have some too.

Dessert usually happens around three or four o clock. After that, there is one more round of family visiting, and then the teenagers split from their parents to continue visiting friends. Recently, teenagers have been hanging out in all their Eid glory at malls, and they meet up with large groups of friends there. Older people in their twenties usually have dessert parties, or meet up at one pre-arranged house and then stay there until the early hours of the morning.

This Eid was fantastic as we had a whole weekend to celebrate, and so Eid continued the next day with friends visiting those they couldnt see on the first day of Eid. Usually it isnt that way though.

Well, thats Eid in Cape Town. Any requests for a next post?

Monday, September 06, 2010

FOOOD POST!!!

*spoiler alert* All fasting people beware, food ahead!

Blog DJ POST DEDICATION: Mochness

So, we were talking about the gatsby in the previous post. While googling for images, I found that someone actually wrote down the unspoken rules for eating gatsby!

Find the modified version below:

1. Keep the time between purchase and consumption of the Gatsby as short as possible. Cold chips are no one’s friend.
2. Cut the Gatsby into a maximum of four pieces. Anything smaller is a gross injustice to the Gatsby because there’s no way you’ll be filled by a fifth or less.
3. Any chip falling from any given piece of the Gatsby is considered fair game. The ruling on this is final.
4. When separating the Gatsby, note the point of division: practice absolute precision here to avoid taking the bottom roll of the next person’s piece. Ask for assistance if necessary.
5. You must finish your share. Besides it being a terrible waste, you’ll be scorned by the Gatsby Fraternity for all time.
6. Grip is critical. Cup your piece in your hand so that loose bits have nowhere to fall except back into your hands. Avoid the scenario described in Point 3.
7. NEVER leave the Gatsby unattended.
8. It’s best to accompany the Gatsby with a beverage, ie Jive, Frulati or Cabana. Hearty burping guarantees relief.
9. Observe relative silence when consuming the Gatsby. No one likes to talk and eat at the same time. See Point 1 regarding cold chips.
10. Always wash hands with soap and water at the conclusion to avoid getting a spicy finger in the eye, a condition commonly known as Gatsby Eye. The only cure is self-induced crying. No one wants to see that, so just make the trip and wash your damn hands.
11. The person that contributes the least towards the gatsby gets the smallest piece.
12. The Gatsby is not supposed to be eaten out of a plate, so make sure you ask the pB.Sc (Person Behind Shop Counter) to doublewrap the Gatsby to ensure enough paper for everyone.
13. Avoid eye contact with anyone not eating the Gatsby for fear of them asking for a “piece”.
14. When sipping on the Frulati, make sure you only have 2 sips then pass… anyone attempting more than 2 sips forfeit the next round.
15. Nothing on the Gatsby is to be wasted (refer point 5), that includes any salads or sauces still remaining in the paper… lick it up!



Check out the original article and pics here

Friday, September 03, 2010

Fun things to do in Cape Town

Another post dedicated to Mochness:

Part of the installment on 'Why Africa is special, and this would be Part Two'

So, what do we do for fun at night in Cape Town? For those who are interested, theres quite a hip and happening party scene, complete with alcohol, loud music and pretty people.

However, this Lamya is not usually found partying. In Central Cape Town, the party street is called Long Street. Apart from clubs, Long Street also has its fair share of shisha cafes, bars, coffee shops, all buzzing till the early hours of the morning. And theres a mean shwarma stand in the middle of the street, all fully halaal, of course. So I'd much rather be hanging out at a coffee shop than a club.

There are a few theatres with lovely shows, too. The Baxter and Artscape are two of the biggest, while quaint little theatres dot the rest of the city..depending on the show and the vibe you're looking for, its all good, clean, fun.

Obviously, theres movies too.. There are quite a few movie theatres throug the city, and they offer quite a variety. Cinema Noveau offers the more artsy non-commercial type movies, while others focus on commercial movies, and some even do full feature Bollywood films.

The restuarants and other coffee shops, well.. they're all there to be discovered. From beachside to mountaintop, theres a whole variety of food just waiting to tantalise your tastebuds. This post wouldnt be complete without a mention of authentically Cape Townian fast foods. There the 'gatsby', which is a huge french loaf type thing, filled with fries, salad, chicken or steak, and usually divided in portions amongst a group of friends. Other fast foods include 'chip rolls' which are fries on bread rolls, 'salomee', essentially curry rolled in roti and served as a type of sandwich.

Okay before this degenerates into a complete food post, Im going to just mention a new Cape Town ramadaan tradition, its called a 'facebooka'. People invite all their facebook friends to 'booka' (see meaning in previous post), its usually held at the beach.. People all bring their own food and blankets and chat and have shisha late into the night. Nice way to meet new people and make new friends. This is done to socialise as its very frowned on to be seen at the movies or in Long Street during ramadaan..

Next post will entail fun things to do during the day, in Cape Town.. Hope you enjoyed this..

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Why Africa is special..(part one)

This post is dedicated to Mochness:

There is something in the air of Africa, an interconnectedness that you dont feel elsewhere. Its like I feel Im close to the pulse of the Earth. There's a smell that hits you when you get off the plane, a feeling of homecoming, even though you are only visiting the first time. The air embraces you, and the sun even feels different.Yes, Africa is special.

I have settled in Cape Town, South Africa, a beautiful gem of a city. I love this city because of many reasons. Lets start with the history.. Like Ive explained before, Cape Town was a little watering and refilling station for the Dutch East India Company, on their way to and from various spice and slave destinations in the East. It was 'discovered' in 1652, by Jan Van Riebeeck, who completely discounted the fact that there were already natural inhabitants to this stretch of beach, called the Khoi-San.

The Khoi-San were inquisitive and warm people, who had a penchant for shiny objects.. And had wonderful bodies which enabled them to live in this climate. They could store some food in their cheeks and when they feated, they built up a supply of fat in their buttocks to keep them goin when they didnt find anything to hunt or gather. They were awesome hunters and trackers, and could mimic bird and animal calls with uncanny accuracy. Well, the Khoi-San people were initially tolerated by Jan Van Riebeeck, but were eventually hunted down almost to extinction, enslaved, and the remaining part of the population driven far into the interior.

Also, the interesting part comes when the Dutch East India Company decided to establish a watering station at the Cape of Good Hope, as Cape Town was known back then. they started vegetable gardens, and built a few homes for their farmers.

A few years later, the Cape of Good Hope became an area where people started to settle down.. A castle was built, and a town established. Around the same time, slaves from Java and India were brought to the new settlement for their craftwork, and handcarved beautiful wooden bedposts and weaved baskets and obviously cooked and were healers, too. Many of these Javanese and Indian people were Muslim, so the Muslim heritage of Cape Town holds strong for more than 400 years.

Muslims at the time were persecuted for having their own religious beliefs, and so learnt to recite the Quran and various athkaar quite melodiously.. Which also sounded like singing.. obviously the 'master' did not realise these people werent singing and actually worshipping their Creator.

Anyways, there are various people through Muslim Cape Town history who risked their lives to teach Islam to others, to encourage hafath al quran, and to make sure the legacy of Islam lived on. Well, their legacy lives on even today..

Part of living in Cape Town, is that you are not persecuted or questioned (even since 9/11) for practising your religion. Also importantly, you practice because YOU WANT TO, not because the government tells you to. There is an abundance of halaal food restuarants, major supermarkets all run lines of halaal meat in seperate fridges, men get off from work early on a friday to attend Jumuah prayers. A few major malls have prayer rooms for salaah. One mall even has a full taraweeh programme. Families openly go and break their fast at the beach (its called 'booka'). At the end of Ramadaan, thousands of Muslims descend on Three Anchor Bay to hear the verdict of sighting the moon, and pray Maghrib together, in the thousands. Friends hang around and have shisha.. Its not odd to see a family praying somewhere at a beach or picnic.. So we really have alot of religious freedoms here in Cape Town. You are protected by the Consitution of this country, and can wear your hijab to work, and wherever else you may choose to go.

That was just a picture of a little of the history of this city, and some religious insights which make it easy to live here. On the next installment, I'll tell you about the fun things we can do here..