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Badr Al Subhi and Maiko Aoki |
Eid Celebration in Jeddah
Badr AL Subhi
AES 130 Communications Skills
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Badr Al Subhi and Maiko Aoki |
Eid Celebration in Jeddah
Badr AL Subhi
Each religion and culture has its own celebrations and festivals. These celebrations make the people happy because of many reasons. We are as Muslims have our celebrations and they are two only. The first is Eid AL Fitr; this celebration is the most popular than the second which is Eid AL Adha. In Saudi Arabia we celebrate both of them, but Eid AL Fitr has the most popularity. All the Muslims celebrate together and share the happiness feelings. In my city Jeddah we have special performances and shows form the other city.
The Eid celebration has started since Prophet Mohammed time. The Eid comes after the Holey month of Ramadan directly. The Muslims celebrate the Eid, because they stopped eating in Ramadan during the day time. Also they are happy because they finished Ramadan obeying Allah by fasting and praying days and nights. First of all the people get out in their areas in the early time of the morning to pray. That pray should be in outdoor place not in the mosque if it's possible. After the people finish they greeting each other and go to visit their families and friends to have the breakfast with them. Some families stay until the lunch time to have it with their relatives.
The Eid celebration lasts six days and it usually starts in the first day at the night. Most of the families go out with their children to have dinner and then they go to the beach to watch the fire works. The fire works starts around 9.p.m or 10.p.m until 11:30.p.m. what is very nice that all the people celebrate with each other even the prince who lead the city comes to watch the fire works. The sponsor for this activity is the prince himself. Then popular singers come to sing on huge stage in the beach until 2 .a.m. In the next day the singers continue coming and celebrating with the people, but other activities start. Example for that cars races, kids playgrounds, circus, and different kinds of competitions.
On the other hand, Most of this happens in the north part of Jeddah which is the modern. In the south part of Jeddah which is the real Jeddah and the Old Jeddah. In the Old Jeddah the people celebrate, but by the tradition old way, without fire works or singers or modern technology things. They celebrate in a big empty area in the heart of the Old Jeddah. In that area the people renting horses, donkeys, motorcycles, and hammocks. Moreover, the kids play together and some people selling old items and food. In addition, you can watch the old type of dancing and enjoy listen to the old type of music in Jeddah. Around all the corners of the Old Jeddah you can smell the old perfumes and the old effluviums.
Finally, this is the most popular celebration in Saudi Arabia, specifically in Jeddah. In the northern part or in the southern part I like them both, because each one of them has meaning for me. The Eid celebration is the best celebration I have ever seen in my life and in the best city I have ever seen in my life.
Coming of Age in Japan
Maiko Aoki
There are many kinds of festivals or celebrations in Japan. In each festival or celebration, we have traditional ways to celebrate, such as clothes, ceremony or food. Among many festivals or celebrations of ours, I want to introduce Japanese "Coming of Age". Many other countries also have a coming of age celebration, but the definition of coming of age is different according to the country. In the case of Japan, people over 20 years old are regarded as adults, and they have the freedom to do many things. From the age of 20, we can smoke, vote and drink alcohol legally. Therefore, we celebrate 20 year-old people in the coming of age celebration, and 20 year-old people encourage each other to accept new responsibilities. We have coming of age day called seijin no hi in Japan, and the celebration is called seijin-siki.
Seijin no hi is in the second Monday of January, and it is a national holiday. In past days, seijin no hi was on January 15th, but it changed to the second Monday of January from 2000, by introducing the "Happy Monday" system. The system was introduced to make successive holidays. The origin of seijin-siki is genpukuwhich is a rite of passage in the Edo period (1603-1868). Boys in the Edo period became adults when they were around 15 years old, and girls become adults around 13 years old. In genpuku, boys change their clothes and hair style to resemble those of adults', and they were given crowns, while girls changed clothes into adult style and dye their teeth black. It was not until 1876 that the Japanese government decided to set the legal age of adults to 20 years old.
At seijin-siki, women wear furisode. It is a kind of kimono which has long, draping sleeves and it is for unmarried women. Men sometimes wear hakama which has been formal clothes for men since a long time ago, but these days most men wear suits at the ceremony. 20 year-old people gather in different places of their own home town, and meet their old friends in seijin-siki . The participants listen to congratulatory speeches by important person, make a pledge to respectable person of society, and are given small gifts. After the ceremony, people go to shrine or go to drink with their old friends.
From the East to the West: Coming of Age to Eid
There are many celebrations and festivals in the world. Each country has traditional celebration or festival, therefore they have some similarities and differences between them. Saudi Arabian and Japanese celebration and festivals also have several similarities and differences.
There are many differences in Saudi Arabian and Japanese culture, but there are some similarities between our celebrations and festivals. For example, we have traditional or special clothes for our celebrations. In the Eid celebration, people wear traditional clothes, for example, the thobe. It is a kind of formal outfitin Saudi Arabia. In Japan, people wear furisode or hakama in the coming of age ceremony. These are special and formal kinds of clothes in Japan. Also, both the celebrations are official holidays, which were established by the government. Therefore, on the days of celebration, we do not have to go to school or work. In addition, both celebrations are old, and they have become part of our tradition.
There are not only similarities, but also differences between Saudi Arabian and Japanese celebrations. One thing is that the Eid celebration lasts for 6 days, but the coming of age is on one day while Eid is celebrated by many events through 6 days, while the coming of age day is one. And, although Eid is a religious celebration, the coming of age is not. The Eid celebration, and also Ramadan, has religious meaning because most Saudi Arabian people are Muslim. However, many Japanese people do not have a particular religion, so the coming of age does not have religious meaning. Moreover, Eid is celebrated by all people, but the coming of age is for 20 year old people, so just 20 year old people and their families celebrate it. How to celebrate is also different. In Eid, there are stages by singers or musicians and fireworks, but in the coming of age, people have formal ceremony and after that, go to drinking because they have become adults.
Those festivals and celebrations are popular in Japan and Saudi Arabia, although we saw many differences and similarities between them. But the most important point is that people in both countries respect these evevnts and feel happy about them.
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