Our First Eid in Singapore, 2021

Eid-Ul-Fitr is known as 'Hari Raya Puasa' in Singapore and Malaysia. 'Hari Raya' means 'Day of Celebration'. The people here say to each other 'Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri' or 'Happy Hari Raya'

Hari Raya Puasa is often mistaken to be the Muslim New Year. When I went to Little India for Eid Shopping some people wished me 'Happy New Year'. However, Hari Raya Puasa marks the end of Ramadan. Also, Ramadan is always 30 days here unlike in Bangladesh where it can be 29 days.

It was our first Eid together in Singapore, in our home, in our little nest. I never imagined an Eid like that. It was a whole different Eid with lots of mixed feelings. Missed both of my families who are in Bangladesh. Without them, it was not the same. We did get a chance to celebrate a "virtual Eid" via video calls with everyone. It was the first thing we did when we woke up on Eid morning.

This was my very first time cooking Bangladeshi food. We never cooked something like that before. We felt like full-fledged adults for the first time in our lives. From grocery shopping to cooking and hosting guests, we did everything from scratch. My husband and I cooked five Bangladeshi traditional Eid items; Polao, roast, beef bhuna, Egg korma and Shemai.

As we gave too much of our attention to cooking, we almost forgot about our New Eid Clothes. We bought our eid outfits just before the day of Eid. I was so busy cooking that I could not find the time to go to the florist to buy my Eid flowers. If you know me personally you know I can never go to any event without fresh flowers. So after finishing cooking at 5 am, we went to buy fresh flowers from a local 24-hour grocery shop. On the way back we felt so tired But I was happy getting my chrysanthemum and daisies. It remained me of my younger days watching Ammu doing her Eid preparation.

In the afternoon, we had our Muslim friends come over for lunch and we had just the most amazing time. At the end of the day, it was a different Eid, but an Eid we truly enjoyed.