The Mayor of London has announced plans for this year’s Eid Festival on Saturday 23rd June. The 13th Eid Festival on Trafalgar Square will once again unite Londoners from all backgrounds and visitors from the UK and beyond to celebrate the end of Ramadan.
This year’s festival will be hosted by Sameena Ali-Khan and Remona Aly. There will be displays of Islamic art, cultural exhibits, story-telling, poetry and food.
An international programme has been designed for all ages. The richness of London’s various Islamic communities will be proudly on display and celebrants will represent a plethora of nations from Turkey to Indonesia, Nigeria to Bangladesh. Danish-Palestinian Darbuka drummer Simona Abdallah and British-Eritrean rapper and social commentator Awate will both be appearing.
As part of the Mayor’s #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign the vital contribution of women to Muslim culture will be a focus of the festival. There will be prominent speeches and presentations from an exciting line-up of Muslim women and girls, which will include performances from British jazz singer Fatimuna Abukar and the Al-Sadiq Al-Zahra School Choir.
The following day Sunday 24th June, London's streets will then come alive with festive displays of music, singing, dancing and chanting as Rathayatra (the festival of the chariots) makes its way from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square.
Every year thousands of Londoners, pilgrims and tourists line the route of the chariots, which carry the deities from Hyde park. These deities are from London’s Radha-Krishna temple at 10 Soho Street.
The festival is a grand procession of the deities of Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva and Lady Subhadra. They ride in three enormous wooden chariots beautifully decorated and painted in vibrant colours, which will be pulled by hand through the streets.
The joyous and exuberant festivities transform Trafalgar Square into a vibrant attraction for everyone. The family-friendly festival also promises stalls of face painting and henna for the children.
