As as an American walking around Eid Fest 2007, you can't help but feel a little conspicuous. We decided to ride our bikes down to the Eid celebration party at the Surfhouse at sunset and blend in with the revelers. When we arrived, however, it was obvious we were the only token white family. In fact, the community recreation director approached us, introduced himself and ordered his camera man to take a shot of us -for PR purposes to illustrate the diversity of the event, no doubt.
The entire festival had a carnivalesque atmosphere: there were horse and camel rides, merry-go-rounds, bouncy castles, henna tattoos, food vendors and musical entertainers. But don't forget, 75 percent of the crowd wore long flowing black and white robes; and the religious police lurked amongst the people to extinguish any improper codes of behavior. (The mutawa have long beards and are bent on enforcing puritanical standards. See this article for more.)
It was the best taste of Saudi culture we've had since being here. And it inspired me to pull out the camera and take as many photos as possible. Of course, this brought with it some difficulty. The security guards watched me like a cobra to make sure I was not walking away with pictures of people. I primarily used Dia as cover for many of the shots; I put her in the frame then moved the camera to the side to capture the bystanders. Whimsically, I just took the camera out and took a free shot to see if they would actually confiscate my camera.
All in all, we enjoyed ourselves. Running into some of our new Muslim friends helped us to feel more welcomed at the festival. Our nanny's family and friends took our daughter away for 15 minutes to show off Claudia to the rest of their extended family and friends. When they returned Claudia, she had one hand full of balloons with the other holding an Arab pastry.
One thing that resonates from the experience was how many people stared at us. I sometimes wondered if the stares by strangers were negative or curious. The small Arabic comments and laughter that erupted with the accompanied stares definitely puts us on the defensive. We did our best to smile and use Claudia as our source of comfort. Reina summed it up best, "Imagine if they were in the Midwest walking around at the State Fair." She had a point: People are people across the board. Fear and misunderstanding contribute to ignorance across all cultures. And ignorance is not always a bad thing. Sometimes it is the perfect jumping off point for discovery, given the right factors.
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