Residents discreetly celebrate New Year ahead of time

Several residents living in the Kingdom claim to have celebrated New Year’s ahead of time and privately to avoid strict monitoring from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia).
The commission had warned the public against celebrating New Year, a local newspaper said.
According to the report, the commission has based its warning on a religious decree issued by the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars banning such celebrations.
“New Year’s Eve in the Kingdom is just like any other ordinary day,” said an Italian teacher living in the Kingdom, who wished to remain anonymous.
She said, “In Italy, we have family and friends get together for a huge feast. Then there’s an amusing sight of fireworks at midnight to mark the beginning of the new year.
“We also have public parties and the streets are so lively, just like how the Eid festival is celebrated here.”
She said that some of her friends living in her building organized a private party at their compound ahead of the new year due to strict monitoring by the Haia in public areas.
Shanaz Hashmi, a British-Pakistani expatriate living and working in the Kingdom, said that she celebrated the New Year earlier to avoid trouble with the Haia.
“We expected that the Haia would raid public places. So we decided to get together at an early date for a small private celebration among family and friends,” she said.
Haia warned that punitive measures would be taken against those who celebrate the New Year publicly. The religious group said it has dispatched its members across the Kingdom to put off public celebrations on New Year, adding that they would not raid houses.
It also warned all shops against selling ornaments that “symbolize or reflect” New Year merriment, adding that violators would be penalized as per the ruling and that their items would be confiscated.