Customs and Traditions of FATA

FATA though a part of Pukhtoon society has almost same traditions and customs as other parts of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Afghanistan but some are very unique to FATA only. Below is a breif glimpse of FATA customs
Festivals: More than 99 % of population is muslim population here so the festivals of Muslims i.e. Eid ul Fitr the EID after Ramadhan fasting month and Eid ul Azha are celebrated with great pump and show. The Eid ul Fitr is Celebrated just after the holy month of Ramadhan wehn the people have completed their fassting for about a month. In FATA this is celebrated by arranging tea parties for friends and relatives. Every family purchase sweets and bakery items before Eid. The friends and relatives visit each other homes and offer good wishes to each other. Children specially enjoy the festival as their parents buy them new clothes and shoes etc for this special day. On the Eid day every child tries to greet their elders 1st to secure their prize money " DA Akhtar Paise". The money collected by the children is mostly spent the same day by the children as small businesspeople arrange small stalls of toys near each village, and every child tries to purchase a better " Vehicle, Doll, Tractor and in recent times Gun, Helicopter or aeroplane toy".
The current insecurity situation has increased the tendency of children to like more weapon like toys like Guns, Pistols, Tanks, Helicopters and so on. The people working on human rights, child rights and peacefull world are invited to pay some attention to this matter and SAVE OUR FUTURE.
Eid Ul Azha, is celebrated on 10th of Zel Hajjah just after the Islamic Pilgrimage " Haj" world wide. The dates of islamic calender months are lunar and as such there may come some difference among various areas on specific days. Some may celebrate it a day earlier than others and so on. FATA areas dont have an independant lunar committee and mostly follow the committees of adjacent setteled areas. One reason the people say is the hilly nature of the area where seeing a new moon"Crescent" is very difficult in comparison to the Plan areas where the chance of seeing it are far better. As a result people of Mohmand And Bajaur Agencies follow district Charsadda, Khyber Agency follow Peshawar, Kurram and Orakzai either follow the national committee or the decisions of hungo and Kohat committees. North and south Waziristan follow the Bannu committee. Perhaps the mostly enjoyed night for north waziristan people had been the night before Eid each year when people from each village arranged a vehicle to visit the Bannu city and know the decision of the Crescent committee.
The eid Ul Azha or the eid of Sacrifice is an ocassion for even the poorest of the poor to get high protein diet. Everybody that can afford slaughter a lamb, goat, cow, bull, or baffalow and divide the meat on 3. one part for himself or herself, one part for relatives and one part for common poor. As a result of too much slaughtered animals the poorest get alot of meat and enjoy the proteins atleast for a few days.