Residents of Chechnya tell about traditions of celebrating Uraza Bayram

Muslims in Chechnya celebrate the Uraza Bayram with granting Zakat, collective prayers and visiting relatives' graves.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that this year the first day of fasting in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was on May 6, and the Uraza Bayram celebration – on June 4-6.

Chechen believers mark the first day of Uraza Bayram with congratulating their neighbours and relatives, collective namaz (prayer) in mosques and visiting relatives' graves. They start congratulating each other at 6 a.m. in order to have time to go to the mosque for the prayer. The collective namaz in the mosques of Chechnya was appointed at 7 a.m. on June 4, a representative of the local clergy named Ali told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

After a collective prayer and visits to the graves, Chechen Muslims visit their relatives and friends, or receive guests at home. "First of all, it's customary for the son-in-law to congratulate his father- and mother-in-law – this is an immutable rule," Murtaz, a resident of Grozny, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In the morning, before the prayer, Ruslan, another resident of Grozny, gave his Zakat-Fitr, to a poor family living in his dwelling settlement. "Then, I will go to the cemetery, to the graves of my father and other relatives; and only then I will visit all my relatives and friends who live in different villages. I will try to go around as many relatives as possible today in order to be home tomorrow and the day after tomorrow," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 4, 2019 at 10:13 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.