The city’s first-ever Eid celebration on September 27 was organised by Christchurch-based non-profit Nawawi Centre, and attended by more than 2,500 Muslims and non-Muslims.
There were food stalls from more than 14 different ethnic groups: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan, Libya, Algeria, Turkish, Bangladesh, Somalia, Maldives, Palestine and India. The venue also had henna and calligraphy booths. Games and activities were organised for children. Dunedin's An-Nur Kiwi Academy, a Muslim culture-based boys’ high school, and Amanah New Zealand, a Shari’ah compliant investment firm, were represented.
But the most important attractions were the walk-in cultural lounge depicting the rich and vast Islamic history, and an Islam-inspired treasure hunt called DeenQuest.
“While we have substantial Muslim population in and around Christchurch, somehow Eid, our biggest festival, remained a private affair. This time we have tried to change that,” said Zayid Jones, director of the Nawawi Centre.
“Our objective for organising the Canterbury Eid Festival is two-folds. Firstly, we want Muslims— both Kiwi and of other nationalities living here—to feel proud of their Islamic identity and heritage. Secondly, and importantly, we want to help our non-Muslim friends in developing a better understanding of the Islamic faith. Islam, like every other religion, also teaches universal peace and brotherhood. But unfortunately, some cultural components confined to particular geographical areas are misunderstood as Islamic teachings, giving all Muslims a bad name. Hopefully, this Eid will usher in an era of better inter-faith respect,” he added.
His sentiments were shared by Patrick O'Connor, who is the director of PEETO—The Multi-Cultural Learning Centre in Christchurch. “In my 25 years of running the Centre, this is the first time I am seeing Eid being celebrated at this scale. This will be very helpful in integrating diverse ethnic communities in Christchurch, which sometimes is wrongly called 'a White Christian City', as we have almost 170 different communities living here now.”
Siham Alsalfiti, a tutor at PEETO who immigrated to New Zealand 15 years ago from Palestine, and Fouad Shah, a Pakistani who has lived here for eight years and is also the Secretary of the Muslim Association of Marlborough in Blenheim, were delighted as well.
“We travel around the country a lot in order to raise funds for constructing an Islamic Centre in Blenheim, and this is by far the biggest Eid celebrations we have seen anywhere in the South Island,” noted Shah.
Even for local Kiwi Muslims, the festival was a welcome development.
Suhaylah Richards, a teacher at the Hagley Community College and a Kiwi Muslim who converted to Islam 30 years ago, recalled, “Contrarily to Eid's inherent idea of being a community festival, we have always celebrated it in our homes individually. While a lot more work needs to be done to make the city more acceptable of cultural diversity, I am happy that things are changing in Christchurch slowly but surely.”
Canterbury Muslim Community Trust informs that according to the 2013 Census, the population of Muslims in Christchurch was 3,250, around 0.6 per cent of the region's population, with representation from more than 40 nationalities.
