Like I explained In my previous post, The U.S and Sudan are pretty different when it comes to holidays. Although this is true, they do share one similar holiday.
Sudan and The United States both celebrate New Year's day on the first of January. New Years is a representation of the new year and new beginnings. In The United States, most people celebrate with fire works, new years kisses, and getting drunk with family and friends. In Sudan, the people go out to eat and spend time with family.
There is another holiday celebrated on January 1st in Sudan and that is their Independence from the United Kingdom and Egypt as well. There had been long years of fighting between Britain and Egypt to try to take over Sudan. In 1821, Egypt invaded and conquered Sudan. In the 1890's, Britain sought to gain power over Sudan. The main reason these countries wanted to gain control of Sudan was because of it's great placement with the Nile River. Through the years of fighting, Britain and Egypt decided to have a free vote between the Sudanese to see if they would vote for Independence. Sure enough On January 1, 1956, the Egyptian and British flags were lowered and a Sudanese flag was raised.
In my opinion, Independence day is not really thought of as a big deal. They have celebrations and get-togethers with family, but it's not stressed as a big event.
This differs from The United States because their Independence from Great Britain is celebrated on the fourth of July. Americans celebrate July 4th with picnics, barbecues, parades, carnivals, etc. Britain had control over the 13 colonies up until July 2, 1776, but the actual Declaration in Independence was not signed and official until July 4th, 1776.
In The United States, because there are so many cultures and religions living under one nation, there are also many different holidays celebrated. Examples being Thanksgiving, Christmas, New years, Valentines day, St. Patrick's day, etc. The similarity between Sudan and The U.S.A is that they both celebrate multiple holidays, but Sudan not as many.
Eid Al-Fitr is a religious holiday celebrated every year after the fasting of Ramadan. Ramadan is a whole month of fasting for Muslims. The purpose of the month is to be grateful for what God has blessed us with and to see how it feels to be without food and water. The fasting starts from sunrise to sunset for 30 days. Eid is celebrated after the month is over to thank God and celebrate what we have and the people in our lives. The coming of Ramadan is determined by the moon and the Islamic Calendar. The Islamic calendar is a calendar consisting of 12 months based on the movement of the moon and "each month starts when the lunar crescent is first seen after a full moon." There is no fixed date on when Ramadan or Eid will be celebrated each year, they are usually declared by the new moon. Eid in Sudan is traditionally celebrated with a group prayer at all the mosques usually in the morning. Before the prayer is over, there is usually a zakat or charity given to the less fortunate paid by the male figure head for the whole family. There are more than one prayer preformed in case people tend to miss it. After the prayer, people go to visit family, go out to eat, enjoy themselves and spend time with the people they care about. Sometimes gifts of money and chocolate are given to the younger kids.
There is another holiday celebrated in Sudan as well as other Muslim countries called Eid Al-Adha celebrated more or less two months and ten days after Eid Al-Fitr. I say more or less because this holiday as well is determined by the position of the moon. This holiday is celebrated to recognize the prophet Ibrahim or Abraham. The Muslims believe that God or Allah, commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, Ishmael. The Prophet naturally obeyed his Lord and in the middle of sacrificing his son, God sent down a ram in place of his son for listening to him. Now, every year Muslims sacrifice a sheep or goat in remembrance of Abraham and his son. In Sudan, on Eid Al-Adha, everyone goes to the mosque for a prayer in the morning. After the prayer, the men usually slaughter the sheep while the women cook. Most families gather all together to celebrate their Prophet and God together.
There are also other holidays that are celebrated and will be mentioned in my next post, thanks for reading.
works cited:
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/muslim/eid-al-adha
http://www.islamicity.com/science/islamic_calendar.shtml
