THUNDER BAY - To mark the end of Ramadan and a month of fasting, a feast is held with family and friends, and this year, the Muslim community of Thunder Bay welcomed many new members to its family.
On Sunday, the Thunder Bay Masjid celebrated Eid al-Fitr at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Coliseum building. The feast is meant to mark end of Ramadan, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, where Muslim’s around the world fast for between 29 and 30 days.
“We are here and fasting,” said Abdullah Syed, one of the feast event planners. “We know that we are going to get the meal, but there are many people who are unfortunate and do not know when they will get that next meal. We do a lot of charity. Everyone is supposed to donate to a charity.”
More than 400 people took part in the feast Sunday afternoon and Syed said the celebration has grown dramatically in the last year.
“Normally we do it at the other hall, but because our community in Thunder Bay has grown dramatically this year, and the Syrian families that have arrived, we needed a bigger place,” he said.
Syed said there are between 100 and 150 Syrian refugee families in Thunder Bay and he was pleased to see so many of them attend the feast.
“And a lot of the families are actually here,” he said. “We are under one roof and we get to meet them and this is their first festival in Thunder Bay.”
Mohamed Ashkara, a grade 12 student from Syria, speaking with the help of a translator, said he was so happy to be at the feast with all friends and families.
“When I came to Canada I had two dreams, I have achieved one of them and I am still waiting on the other one,” he said. “My first dream was to go to university and to graduate. The second dream is to meet Justin Trudeau and thank him for receiving people like me in Thunder Bay and all my family. But that might be too hard.”
Being his first Eid al-Fitr away from Syria, Ashkara said there are many differences, but he doesn’t feel all that far away from home.
“Back home the whole family is there from my dad and my mom’s side,” he said. “But here, it’s kind of different but all the people around here make me feel like home.”
For Syed, seeing the many families from Syria celebrating such an important holiday in the community is very exciting and he hopes that through these celebrations, they are feeling more and more at home in the city of Thunder Bay.
“They loved it, they love the community,” he said. “They mingled, their kids are having fun, they are just having a remarkable time.”
