Qaranqasho

Because I was bothered to illustrate thanks to my stylus

On the night of mid Ramadhan (14th of Ramadhan) kids go out and sing a song while walking around houses asking for candies, something similar to "Trick or Treat" but without the scary costumes. Kids usually wear traditional clothes and carry a bag/container to put all the candy they collect in it.

As a child I have never been out to celebrate Qaranqasho and I really thought the reason behind it was my parents being scared of sending us out in fears of us getting kidnapped. I was jokingly asking my dad today after dinner to give us chocolates or candies because of Qaranqasho and his first comment was "I hate that word" followed by "this is not part of our traditions". Apparently, Qarnqasho in Oman originally Started in Muscat and so its not part of the interior of Oman's traditions.

After the conversation with dad today I decided to ask around about how the tradition started and from what I've been told the tradition started way back when Prophet Mohammed's first grandson, Al Hassan, was born. His mom, Sayyida Fatima, gave out candies to the children in celebration of his birth. Many years later, the kids still celebrate the tradition of collecting candies on the mid of Ramadhan.

The term "Qaranqasho" or "Gergayan" could come from the sound of candies in the bags and container hitting on each other making a similar sound and also from the knocking on doors.

Many reasonings for the naming not sure which one to believe.

Happy Qaranqasho to those who celebrate. Hope you had fun