Alyssa GoodmanMay 26, 2020Mosa'ab ElshamyComment

Confined Moroccans find new ways to celebrate Eid

Alyssa GoodmanMay 26, 2020Mosa'ab ElshamyComment

Instead of mass prayers and large family gatherings filled with colorful clothes, gifts, and traditional foods, millions of Moroccan Muslims celebrated Eid Al-Fitr at home, subdued and isolated amid their country’s newly extended coronavirus lockdown.

The mood was somber for the normally joyous holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, but also mixed with gratitude that Morocco's brush with the virus has been so far milder than that seen in the U.S. or Europe.

And Moroccan families found ways to make Eid special, as Muslims around the world adapted the religious festival because of social distancing and life under confinement.

In Casablanca, Morocco’s most populous city, where police tasked with enforcing the lockdown guarded deserted streets, 21-year-old Yousra Sandabad’s family greeted loved ones over video calls.

Afifa, 61, video calls with their grandson on the first day of Eid in lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, in Casablanca, Morocco, Sunday, May 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

They cooed at a baby on a cellphone screen, as a breeze lapped the gauzy curtains, honey-laden sweets piled high on the table along with other traditional holiday treats.

Her extended family lives in several different cities across the kingdom, and they would normally get together to celebrate Eid.

But her family hasn’t had a guest since Morocco’s strict lockdown was declared over two months ago. She celebrated the day with just her parents, Afifa and Moustafa, and took a trip to their rooftop for a view of the city, the Atlantic Ocean, and Casablanca’s iconic Hassan II Mosque.

About 100 kilometers (60 miles) away, in Sale, Ghita Naoui and her sister Fatima shared a meal with their children as they watched TV and drank tea. Suhail, her nephew, an amateur music producer, worked on a new mix as his sister and cousin caught up with their friends via social media.Instead of mass prayers and large family gatherings filled with colorful clothes, gifts, and traditional foods, millions of Moroccan Muslims celebrated Eid Al-Fitr at home, subdued and isolated amid their country’s newly extended coronavirus lockdown.

The virus was on many minds, but also hope that restrictions are relaxed soon. Morocco was early to order confinement, and has reported 200 deaths and about 7,500 infections overall.

“It’s not how we imagined celebrating Eid,” Fatima Naoui said while cooking lunch for the family, “but we hope that by the next (major Muslim holiday, in two months), things will be back like it used to be.”