Dubai: Most people can recount the days when they used to go from door to door greeting all their relatives on the occasion of Eid.
Children would accompany their parents as they visited relatives, or help them decorate greeting cards that would be sent to friends and family far away.
“We’d always visit our family members and wish them a happy Eid. We’d go to every relative’s house, because it was a tradition that we followed as a family.
"Everyone in our neighbourhood used to do the same as well.”
She would join her parents as they made their way to the elderly members of the family and wished them a blessed Eid.
“My sisters and I would go with my parents to all our old relatives and greet them for Eid. It’s a tradition to show our respect for the elders in the family and to celebrate the coming holiday.
"If our family lived in another country, we would send greeting cards wishing them well.”
"But now, the days of greeting cards and family visits have been replaced by quick WhatsApp messages and Instagram stories. Younger generations of expats who grew up away from most of their relatives find that the easiest way to greet their distant family members is through text messages.
"When it comes to her close family members, like her aunts and uncles, Abdul Fattah and her parents call each and every one of them to pass on their blessings.
But now we just send them a text message or give them a quick phone call.”
“I usually use social media applications like Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram to share my Eid blessings with my friends.
"We usually have a family gathering with my aunts and uncle who live in the UAE, and during that gathering we call or text the rest of our family members who aren’t in the country.”
Past traditions have changed, but social media and text messaging applications have allowed people to send their greetings and blessings to and connect with their families no matter where they are in the world.