LEWISTON — At the Lisbon Street mosque Tuesday, men wearing their best outfits walked through the door and removed their shoes. They faced a wall with their hands up. They knelt, then bowed their heads to the floor. Women prayed in another room.

Tuesday was Eid al Fitr, the holiest and happiest Muslim day of the year, said Hussein Ahmed, who owns a downtown store.

Eid is somewhat similar to Christmas, he said, in that religious services are observed, greeting cards are sent, the day is full of rejoicing and feasting. Two large services were held, one at the Lewiston Armory, another at the Multi-Purpose Center.

People dress up for the occasion. Men wear white or light-colored robes with matching, traditional caps. Women wear fancy black or coordinated skirts and hijabs.

Muslim students are excused from school with requests from parents, said Lewiston School Superintendent Bill Webster, just as students are excused on Good Friday or Yom Kippur.

Eid celebrates the end of Ramadan, which marks the end of the Islamic calendar, Ahmed said. Ramadan lasts for 30 days and is a spiritual time of reflection, worship and fasting. Muslims cannot eat or drink, even water, from sunrise to sunset.

“The summer makes it harder,” said Hassan Alew, adding that the days are warm and long. Fasting lasts for 15 hours, he said.

During Ramadan, “we are imitating that we all are similar: the rich, the poor,” Ahmed said. “Everybody was experiencing the hunger.”

That is especially important this year, he said, because “it coincides with the famine that’s happening back home. We can feel the hunger they have been feeling.”

On Eid al Fitr, the fasting stops and the celebrating begins.

“We are all happy. We send our happiness to the rest of Lewiston-Auburn,” Ahmed said.

Greetings are sent to other faith groups, to law enforcement officers who have maintained security and to neighbors “who have respected us” by tolerating more parked cars around mosques during the past month, he said.

This year’s celebration marked the 10th anniversary of Somali immigrants moving to Lewiston, he said. “We take this opportunity to advance how far we’ve come. It is the 10th year of very successful integration, of diversity that has been improving every year and seems to be headed in the right direction.”

With Ramadan behind them, Somalis said they would spend the day visiting friends and having fun with their children.

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