« An Experiment | Main | My Trip to Irbid »

June 1, 2005

Eid Al-Isticlal

Alright, I'm a week behind with posting and have no excuse. However, these next few stories are good ones so please bear with me. :)

Last Wednesday was Independance Day here in Jordan (also know as Eid Al-Isticlal). I didn't think anything exciting was going to happen because the King moved the holiday to Thursday and most people were heading out of town without much thought as to why they had time off. When I got home from school on Wednesday, however, Mohammed told me that we were going to see fireworks! I thought that this was pretty cool because I didn't even know they had big firework displays in Jordan and I also thought that fireworks displays were only an American independance thing.

At about sunset, my family and I got in the car and headed to Abdoun circle to see the display. When we got in the area, there were tons of people all celebrating Jordan. My host brother insisted that we buy a Jordanian flag from the man on the corner and my sis brought her Jordanian Kefiya and my host dad turned up the Jordanian music so loud that I thought I would lose my hearing! When the fireworks started, we were closer to them than you are ever allowed to get in the US and they exploded directly over our heads. The display was pretty normal but impressive none the less.

Afterwards we drove around Abdoun with the music blaring and Mohammed hanging out the window singing Jordanian songs. It was cool so see everybody partying and celebrating their country. People like to claim that there is no nationalism or patriatism but this was proof that it exists in Jordan. Although the country oftentimes seems weighed down by its Palestinian populating, it still manages to have pride in itself and its accomplisments.

I know that I had a really good time so I can only imagine how cool it is to be Jordanian on a day like Eid Al-Isticlal. And of course fireworks are always welcome.

Posted by rcollins at June 1, 2005 6:07 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://test.gutwin.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/241

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Eid Al-Isticlal:

» Marazzi from marazzi
Marazzi prin Omnitechgroup [Read More]

Tracked on September 16, 2006 9:41 AM