The Eidiyah October 1, 2008
Posted by jewaira in Children, Family, Kuwait, Life, Special Occasions.5 comments
In one corner, a dark haired seven year old girl is applying bright pink lipstick to another girl of the same age standing in front of her with pursed lips. I tease them and one mother laughs, remarking how the little girls wait for Eid so that they can put on some makeup and dress up.
All around, children playing and adults talking causes a happy commotion. It is the first evening of Eid and they are all gathered at the extended family home. They have changed into their Eid finery: girls with pretty dresses swinging small dainty handbags (for the eidiyahs) and boys in white dishdashas, holding their heads high to keep in place the starched, pressed white ghutra kept in place with a black igaal. The young boys keep fiddling with their new wallets. The children are all excited about their Eidiyahs, some counting what they have gotten, others waiting to get more. For the sake of Eidyahs, they are willing to make social calls to family and friends’ houses and sit with the adults.
Driving from one house to another, we listen to Eid programs on the radio. The most common question is how much did you get for Eid so far? The radio host laughs with the caller and says: “Anything less than 100 KD is not worth mentioning! Hahahaa…”
I look out of the corner of my eyes and wonder if the little one is listening.
He was.
After some thought, he muses: I used to make hundreds of dinars during Eid…what has happened now? Where has everyone gone?
It sounds materialistic..but an Eidiyah is something every child looks forward to at Eid. It is a symbolic gift of money to others, mainly children, young people who don’t yet have jobs, and to domestic help at home. It is given during Eid, preferably after proper salutation and greetings. Ideally, one should never come outright and say: Where is my Eidiyah? (Very rude!)
So we ponder “where everyone has gone” and find that many of those people who used to hand out hefty Eidiyahs are abroad either on holidays or in hospitals undergoing treatment.
Is it all about money, then? And what do they do with their Eidiyahs?
Some families insist the children use their Eidiyahs as pocket money. Others encourage them to deposit the money in a savings account at the bank. Other children are encouraged to invite their parents out to lunch, as a gesture of generosity and gratitude.
There are sad stories associated with Eidiyahs too. Like the housemaid who had innocently stashed her money under her mattress only to have it stolen by the temporary maid, who ran off with the money without looking back. Other stories, more common I suspect, are of wallets that are lost by children during the Eid and all hard earned money is gone.
