The Middle East celebrates the holiday of Eid al-Fitr after the month of fasting Ramadan

The festive dawn prayer in mosques announced on Wednesday the onset of Eid al-Fitr in most countries of the Middle East - the holiday at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Due to the fact that on the eve of Ramadan there was some confusion with the identification of a thin crescent moon in the sky, and therefore the time of the beginning of the month according to the lunar calendar, Islamic countries entered into fasting with a gap of a day. And now 14 out of 22 countries have announced the end of Ramadan with the advent of the new month of Shawwal. Thus, the first day of the holiday came on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, Syria and Mauritania. 

Unlike the main holiday of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr (also known as Eid al-Fitr, Kochuk Bayram or Sheker Bayram among the Turkic peoples) is considered a "quiet" holiday, symbolizing a return to a habitual way of life after a difficult month of trials, when the faithful are instructed to devote themselves to thoughts about the spiritual, to pray to give up everything vain and mundane during the daylight hours.

The first morning of the holiday is considered the most blissful time - the streets of the cities are unusually deserted, people are resting, shops, government offices, cafes are closed. But life does not stop completely, it just lurks behind the walls of houses where Muslims cook sweet dishes - the main dish on festive tables these days.

The first day of the holidays, which traditionally last for almost a week, is associated with all kinds of sweets among the Arabs, and in a few more days the locals tend to buy chocolate, sweets and cookies for their families and gifts. Therefore, the most difficult time before the holiday is given to confectioners and sellers of oriental sweets shops, where these days there is simply not enough room, and queues for sugar and honey treats can stretch down the street in a string. In Egypt, for example, the symbol of the holiday is a sweet pastry "kyakhk", similar to the familiar Russians "kurabye", abundantly sprinkled with powdered sugar. Its appearance on sale in a few more days symbolizes the imminent end of the fast.

It is customary to give small gifts and buy new clothes in Eid al-Fitr. Egyptians tend to leave noisy cities and go to the sea for a few days. Egyptian resorts are full these days, there are no available rooms, there is a full house in Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh and the Mediterranean. But the ever-bustling Cairo got the opportunity to take a short break from the round-the-clock hustle and active nightlife in Ramadan. 

The Palestinians are experiencing a dark time, for whom Ramadan, contrary to tradition, did not become a time of respite from the war and the hardest trials that befell them. And now, in these bright days for all Muslims, residents of the dilapidated Gaza Strip continue to sort through the rubble in search of relatives and friends, find and bury the dead and pray to God for an end to their nightmare.