Eid Celebration at Dulwich Park

I was delighted to go along to the first ever Southwark Eid festival which took place at Dulwich Park on Sunday 12 September 2010.

It was a lovely sunny day and Dulwich Park was very busy, with lots of people heading towards the lawn (where the festival took place). There were several stalls set up, activities for children, exhibitions and performance such as poetry readings and rapping. It was wonderful to see the Muslim community in Southwark celebrating this very special event, and it was a further joy to see non Muslim residents of Southwark equally enjoying and feeling welcome at the festival.

The event was collaborated between Southwark Council, the Southwark Muslim Forum, and lots of other volunteers from all sections of the local Muslim community – a special thanks to the volunteers, who were very kind and helpful throughout the festival.

Last week Southwark Council announced that ‘As many as two thousand people gathered as the sun shone in the park to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, including Muslims from countries across the globe, plus many non-Muslims too.’

Poetry reading

Southwark Councillor Abdul Mohamed, Cabinet Member for Equalities and Communities, described the event as a unique coming together of the borough’s diverse Muslim population. He said:

“Eid is a celebration that follows the holy month of Ramadan. Local young Muslims wanted to share some of the traditional festivities of this day with the wider community. It was an omen that the sun shone on Dulwich Park as our Muslim and non-Muslim communities mingled. Southwark’s riches in diversity and cultures were put on show. I don’t know of anywhere else where people from different backgrounds appreciate and value each other quite as much as they do in Southwark.

I am glad that we were able to arrange this event and fulfil the wishes of the local Muslim people we regularly meet who asked for us to provide an Eid event where Muslims from all over Southwark could gather together as a community and also meet other residents of the borough. I hope everyone came away from the day as enriched and inspired I was.”

Overall, I felt that the festival was a fantastic way of bringing together diverse sections of the community to celebrate Eid but also to celebrate community spirit. The Eid festival was a definite success and we at Dulwich OnView hope that it continues to take place for many years to come.