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In pictures: Eid al-Fitr celebrations around the world as Ramadan comes to an end

Young girls display their hands painted with henna in traditional patterns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in Peshawar, Pakistan. Credit: AP

Muslims across the UK and around the world have marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan by praying together in mosques and meeting up to eat in joyous celebration. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, when Muslims are encouraged to engage in dawn-to-dusk fasting for the month.

People take a selfie at Small Heath Park in Birmingham as the holy month of Ramadan comes to an end. Credit: PA

Children enjoy theme park rides at a funfair in Birmingham as Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr. Credit: PA
People celebrate Eid al-Fitr at Leeds Grand Mosque, West Yorkshire. Credit: PA

Typically a three-day festival, it begins with morning prayers before families mark the new month with gifts of toys and clothes.

British Muslims have been forced to observe Covid restrictions during Eid-al-Fitr for the past two years, placing curbs on the usual festivities including large indoor gatherings.

Around the world, Muslim communities gathered in what for many was their first chance to mark the end of the holy month together.

A family prepares traditional cookies for the Eid al-Fitr holiday in Basra, Iraq. Credit: AP
Tunisians sing on their way to the Zitouna mosque as they mark the Eid al-Fitr, near Tunis. Credit: AP
A Somali Muslim prays during the Eid al-Fitr prayers in Mogadishu, Somalia. Credit: AP

Similar to Easter Sunday in the Christian calendar, Eid does not fall on the same day every year. Instead, Eid and the period of Ramadan are both determined by a new moon, as Islam follows the lunar calendar.

At the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, tens of thousands of Muslims attended prayers on Monday morning.

Muslim men perform Eid al-Fitr prayer on a street outside an overflowed mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia. Credit: AP

The Istiqlal Grand Mosque in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta was shuttered when Islam’s holiest period coincided with the start of the pandemic in 2020 and was closed to communal prayers last year. “Words can’t describe how happy I am today after two years we were separated by pandemic. Today we can do Eid prayer together again,” said Epi Tanjung after he and his wife worshipped at another Jakarta mosque.

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