Food and Muharram: Hand in hand, taftans and sharbat go

Tabarruk and sabeel have become an integral part of Muharram rituals.

ISLAMABAD:

In a country where food and drink are taken very seriously, it is of little surprise that certain foods have become an integral part of Muharram rituals.

In fact, the practice of distributing tabarruk, which are small packets of food — mostly consisting of a sweetened naan bread dish resembling taftan — after every majlis, a religious gathering, has become commonplace.

“In the beginning we used to distribute food among ourselves after each majlis in our home. With time, women started bringing in baskets of food to distribute among each other. Now it is a tradition. Each family brings baskets of food to distribute on particular days,” said Zahra Zulfiqar, who arranges majalis for women each year in her home.

She added, “The sweet bread has also become a part of the tradition. If for some reason we don’t have sweet bread in the packets, people come running to ask why it is missing. It has become associated with majalis all over.”

Others families chip in money for sabeel stalls that are located along procession routes after various intervals. These stalls offer traditional drinks to the participants of the processions.

Ali Raza, a resident of the city, said, “Our family has been serving sabeel during processions for almost ten years now. It’s something we strive to do each year without fail. The processions get bigger and bigger by the year and we must increase the quantity of refreshments available.”

Raza and his family offer mourners free sharbat made of chilled milk, Rooh Afza and crushed almonds. Even though the stalls are not a compulsion, families do it to keep the tradition going, Raza said.

Many mourners now associate this same drink with the procession ritual.

Jalal Haider, a banker by profession, said, “All year round I don’t drink sharbat, but Moharram is the exception. When I was young my cousins and I would go running to the stalls, especially during the summer, as we would be parched from the long walk.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2012.