Disney Junior highlights Eid celebration on its mainstream children’s TV show
Mira, Royal Detective is a children’s television series on Disney Junior. Featuring the first South Asian protagonist in the network’s history, the show takes place in a fictional kingdom inspired by 19th century India. Mira showcases Indian and South Asian cultures and has an almost entirely South Asian cast of voice actors. The main character is voiced by 16-year-old Leela Ladnier, an American-born actress who describes herself as half-white and half-South Asian.
In the video “The Eid Mubarak Song,” we see a cartoon featuring a Muslim girl named Saadia and her mother visiting non-Muslim friends (Mira and her mom). They arrive bearing gifts and wearing beautiful new clothes to celebrate Eid. Mira admits to Saadia that she’s never celebrated Eid and doesn’t know much about it. In this scene, the show is providing a lesson about how children can ask respectful questions about each other’s traditions and holidays. Saadia, the self-proclaimed “Eid Expert,” educates her friend by singing a song:
When you see the crescent moon
Eid is finally here!
The month of Ramadan is done
A special time of year!
With mehndi on our hands
We dress up and give out sweets.
Gifts and greetings all around
For everyone we meet!
The clothes, architecture, music, and dance moves of the animated video have a distinctly Indian vibe. And while the characters perform Bollywood dance numbers, the writers are careful to be respectful of Islamic culture in the sense that everyone is dressed modestly and the men dance with men, and the women with other women.
Viewers who don’t know about Eid will learn new words like “mehndi” and “Eidi” thanks to the lyrics. The song successfully conveys the joy, generosity, and gratitude Muslims feel during Eid:
Eid Mubarak! Eid Mubarak!
Share a feast with family and friends.
Think of others in joy and happiness.
Today we’re grateful for all we have
And everyone we love
We find a way to give our thanks
Or the best part, give a hug!
Children ages 2-7 will probably enjoy this song and animated video. If they are of South Asian or Indian heritage, they will enjoy seeing representation of their culture and characters who look like them and their family members displayed positively on a mainstream network. Muslim children in general are usually thrilled to see their holidays normalized on TV. With so many Christmas and Halloween episodes on TV shows, seeing representation of Muslim holidays on a network like Disney Junior really matters.
