On the last night of Dhul-Qa’dah, the Hajj crescent appeared timidly in the Arab countries. It remained steady for a while and then set, announcing the beginning of the month of Dhul-Hijjah.
It seems that the crescent moon knew what was happening to the region and that this year’s Eid season will not be like others before. The homes of the people of Gaza will not be decorated with Hajj verses on the walls of the pilgrims’ homes, and the women will not sing the songs of “nostalgia” that they received with joy and longing for Hajj as they bid farewell to their pilgrims, “Ma’ada ya haja.” “Oh, the smell of the city… I am happy, you have received this argument.” The Horse Festival, an annual custom for the youth of Nuseirat camp on Eid al-Adha, will also disappear this year.
It is not only the chants, invitations and festivals that have disappeared from the atmosphere of Eid al-Adha in Gaza, the “lamma of traps” has also disappeared.
Traps
It is the Palestinian saj bread that the women of Gaza families prepared two or three days before the Arafat stand, as Aida Shaat (33 years old), a mathematics teacher who came from Gaza to Egypt shortly before last Ramadan, tells us. Despite all her attempts to adapt to life in Egypt, she still… (She longs for her mother’s bread).
Aida talks about Palestinian shrak, “It is a type of bread that is used in preparing Eid al-Adha dishes. It was one of our family’s Eid customs for my mother to gather with her relatives and the women of the neighbors to prepare saj bread days before Eid, and their voices would rise with Hajj songs and chants and the joy of the children over the Eid sheep.” She added, “Everything disappeared: no bread, no joy, and no feast.”
She told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “Fatta is the main dish on Eid day for the people of Gaza, while the people of the West Bank differ, as they prefer Mansaf on the first day of Eid.” This geographical division of the main dish of Eid al-Adha, which involuntarily follows the administrative division of the liberated Palestinian Territory.
Between the Egyptian fattah and the Jordanian mansaf, the “shirak” bread was the Palestinian origin that the women of Gaza were keen to include on their Eid table, along with lamb and Egyptian rice.
Sumakia meat meal with sumac
Palestinian traps are not the only custom of the people of Gaza on Eid al-Adha. Rather, “samakia” is the top of the traditional Eid meals that Gazan women used to make, over the course of a full day or two before the Eid, and they are supervised by one of the women with a lifetime of experience with ancient foods.
Aida tells Tel Aviv Tribune Net that she might make saj bread this year before the Eid in her home in Badr City (east of Cairo), but it is impossible for them to make summakia, which requires special things that are difficult to find far from Gaza, where at least 10 women gather in one of them’s house and prepare summakia. In large pots.
Sumakia consists of sumac as the main ingredient, local onions, Swiss chard, garlic, tahini, and small pieces of veal, which is “the dish that is not eaten alone in Gaza,” as Aida says. Sumakiyya, although it contains meat, is treated in Gaza just as basara is here in Egypt. It is the traditional dish that no home in Gaza is without someone who excels in making it.
Lamb hanger
The smell of Palestinian alaqi still fills the nose of Muhammad Yahya (30 years old), who is coming from Gaza to Egypt, at the beginning of 2024. He remembers the alaaqi dish that his mother used to prepare on the morning of Eid immediately after slaughtering the sacrifice, and then he shares it with his brothers as a delicious breakfast meal whose customs have disappeared and whose smell is still there. in the memory.
Yahya does not know exactly how his mother used to prepare allaqi, but he knows the main ingredients of the most famous dish for breakfast on Eid day: liver, heart, and kidneys with small pieces of meat, plus spices, salt, pepper, pieces of chopped onions, a little garlic, and tomatoes, all stirred with the onions. And tomatoes.”
Yahya believes that his mother used to put a secret ingredient in every food she served them, to the point that he did not like anyone else’s cooking, but after he left Gaza and came to Egypt, he learned that the secret ingredient was not made by his mother, but rather the smell of the homeland.
Palestinian maftoul with meat
From Tunisia, the people of the Levant and Palestine learned about the “couscous with meat” dish, the most famous Tunisian food around the world. But in Palestine, especially Gaza, the characteristics of the Tunisian dish changed, and meat was absent from it, and chicken emerged as its symbol. These ingredients do not change until Eid al-Adha, so the maftool returns to its origins with lamb, but maintains the thicker texture than its Tunisian counterpart, which is softer and smaller in its grains.
The Palestinian fattoul on Eid al-Adha is one of the signs of the Gazan hospitality table, as it adds a lot of prestige to the table, especially if it is accompanied by a fattah of Egyptian origins, and the dishes compete in a delicious context far from the conflict of identities that sparked laughter at the table of the Egyptian “Umm Aya” who got married in Gaza. For 40 years, she founded her family there, then war conditions forced her to return to Cairo again after October 7 of last year.
“Umm Aya” (62 years old) says that she always tended to make Egyptian fattul with the famous sauce, and add a mixture of vinegar and garlic to it, so that its smell would arouse the appetite of her Gazan neighbors, and they would exchange with her their dishes of maftoul with her dish of Egyptian fattah, and she quickly mastered cooking maftoul, after I learned that it is no different from Egyptian couscous, as “the dough is the same, the difference is that we add ghee, sugar, and nuts to it to make it a sweet dish, whereas in Gaza we make it with broth, meat, and vegetables.”
Maqluba and Palestinian grills
Despite the spread of Palestinian maqlouba as a popular meal in Egypt, many restaurants and Syrian and Palestinian food kitchens serve it. Its ingredients, which include long-grain rice and fried vegetables consisting of eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, and meat or chicken, are among the ingredients that are easily found in Egypt, but they have not been very popular with the Egyptian taste compared to the Gulf kabsa, which is somewhat similar to it.
Although the Palestinian maqlouba is one of the most famous Eid al-Adha dishes, especially those that rely on meat, it does not leave enough room for the delicious Palestinian grill, which is not similar to other grills, whether from Egypt or the Gulf. “Umm Aya” told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that Egyptians prefer a lot of fat in barbecue, and it actually gives it a special taste, “but in barbecue we rely on low-fat meat with the highest percentage of vegetables added to it, and some also add bulgur to add an irresistible Palestinian flavor to grilled kofta fingers.” As for the Gazawi kebab, it does not resemble the Egyptian kebab, which has many bones, but it is pure and soft meat, and its maturity depends on how long it remains in the preparation recipe, which consists of onions, yogurt, sumac, and spices for grilling, with the addition of pomegranate molasses and soy to give it a different color and taste.