Chaand Raat (Bengali: চাঁদ রাত , Hindi: चाँद रात, Urdu: چاند رات literally, Night of the Moon) is a Hindi, Urdu and Bengali locution used in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh for the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr; it can also mean a night with a full moon.
Chaand Raat is a time of celebration when families and friends gather in open areas at the end of the last day of Ramadan to spot the new moon, which signals the arrival of the Islamic month of Shawwal and the day of Eid. Once the moon is sighted, people wish each other Chaand Raat Mubarak ("Have a blessed night of the new moon") or Eid Mubarak ("Blessings of the Eid day"). Women and girls decorate their hands with mehndi (henna), and people prepare desserts for the next day of Eid and do the last round of shopping.
(... from Wikipedia on 2012-04-18 00:09:01)