Muslims in Toronto and around the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, Thursday.
The celebration marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan in which most Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset for 30 days.
Eid is marked with three days of festivities, including prayers and savoury feasts.
In Toronto, around 15,000 people were expected to gather at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to mark Eid.
The event featured a ritual morning congregational prayer, followed by a full day of carnival rides, shows, a bazaar, and of course, food.
Organizers collected donations to make sure 150 low-income families could join in on the party.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, cars were seen driving around the capital, Jakarta, handing out envelopes to the poor. Hundreds also gathered in a landmark traffic circle downtown to watch the impromptu firework displays.
In the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, about 100 Muslims braved a stormy morning to pray at the city’s sole mosque on the edge of the city’s old quarter. The Vietnamese imam gave a sermon in Arabic and then English to the congregation, most of whom were expatriates. Vietnam is also home to some 60,000 indigenous Muslims, most of them in the south.
However, not all countries begin celebrations on the same day. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, for instance, are expected to officially begin Eid on Friday after the moon is sighted there.
Muslims believe God revealed the first verses of the Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan, which starts with the sighting of the new moon. The Muslim lunar calendar moves back through the seasons, meaning Ramadan starts 11 days earlier each year under the Western calendar.