PESHAWAR: Eid is considered as the most vibrant religious festival celebrated throughout the Muslim world in a variety of cultural ways. Changes do occur with the passage of time in the ways we celebrate our different festivals.

The significance of such festivals is multifarious. They connect and bring families and friends together. Ramat Jan Kaka, 66, while explaining the significance of sweets being shared and presented to guests on the eve of Eidul Fitr said, sweets and vermicelli would mean to forget about the bitterness, if any, that occurred before or during Ramazan. The tradition of sweets and vermicelli has lingered on despite drastic changes in its way of preparation and presentation down the ages.

Rizwan Ali, a customer at a sweets shop, regretted that sweets at most of the shops were not prepared according to its standard method. He said that the authorities concerned didn’t take notice of such outlets in the city. He said that cleanliness condition at most of the sweets shops and confectionaries in the city was not satisfactory. “Every day media reports on substandard sweets killing innocent people but unfortunately, nothing happens, no action is taken against the culprits,” Mr Ali remarked. He said SOPs were not properly followed as one could determine from its colour and taste.

Several consumers complained of substandard sweets and confectionaries being sold in and around the city. Said Zaman, a resident of Daudzai area, said that sweets of most shops were not worthy of being eaten because of bad taste and could cause illness among children. He said ingredients mixed in sweets were also harmful to health.

The smell and the very sight of sweets lure people whether poor or rich. Eid, engagement, wedding ceremony, circumcision, birth of baby, birthday or family and countless other events, all the special occasions require the presence of sweets.

Great rush is witnessed on sweets shops before, during and even after Ramzan. It is a must item on the top of list of everyone busy in Eid shopping. Vermicelli and dry fruits come afterwards on the priority list. Lahore Sweet House in Peshawar’s Qissa Khawani Bazaar is running a booming business for the last more than 70 years. “My grandfather had opened this sweets shop, then my father ran it and now I am doing this business. The sweets business is sprawling especially when festival days are drawn nearer. It is in fact an item for all the seasons,” Gul Nawaz told this scribe.

He said in the past, buying sweets for the occasion was not necessary, it was just a symbolic gesture. He said in good old days people’s way of celebrating Eid was very simple. “People would prepare homemade vermicelli from dough and sprinkled it with ghee and pieces of gur. Now a wide variety of vermicelli is available in the local market,” he added.

Sweets are shared and presented on all happy and good occasions. If on one hand it symbolises togetherness, closeness and strong spiritual connection, on the other hand, sweets stand for removing sense of bitterness and rivalry and return to peace between opposing parties whether colleagues, friends and family members.

Family and friends’ togetherness on the occasion gives a new dimension to the festival. Zareen Mama, 70, says that the spirit of family and friend’s togetherness is long gone but still relatives and friends sit together or dine out to share moments of happiness. “When I was young Eid was celebrated to end enmities and family feuds. Now-a-days on Eid, most often old enmities are refreshed and instead of exchanging greetings, they fall out on petty issues. The occasion of Eid was never like this,” he commented. “Da Khwagu Akhtar os pa tarakhu badal shu (the Eid of sweets now turned sour breeding bitterness),” he said.

An official on condition of anonymity in KP food department told Dawn that they had kept a vigilant eye on sweets shops and punished those dealing in substandard products. “We arrest them and impose heavy fine on the culprits if proven guilt,” he said and added that many sweets outlets in the city were closed down for not following standard hygiene.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2016