Eid al-Adha عيد الأضحى

عيدالأضحى = Eid al-Adha
Holiday/Festival of Sacrifice

This weekend marked the beginning of the biggest holiday weekend in Muslim culture: The first day of Eid al-Adha.  It's really been a fabulous weekend, marked by the tapering of our workload in class, hanging out throughout the weekend with friends, and making preparations to head to Siwa Oasis and Marsa Matruh for five days tomorrow.

'Twas nice sleeping in, reading what I wanted to read, going to a concert, a party, and having fun food and drink and the like. The air was festive all weekend, and this morning, the first official day of the Eid, the party mood was so tangible, it truly felt (a little bit) like Christmas as we sipped Nescafé and ate peanut butter honey toast on the balcony. At 6:30 AM, I woke up to a LOUD "Allahuwakbar" (God is great) repeated again and again on a loudspeaker, in the street in front of our apartment. Hundreds of men were gathered to pray on green, red, and yellow mats on Shariya Delta. An Imam spoke into the loudspeaker for about 15 minutes; I caught phrases like "women's rights," " abundance and giving," "service," "gratitude." As soon as the prayer and address were over, mats were rolled up and a whole lotta goats, cows, and sheep met their fate in the street. Per tradition, to commemorate Abraham's willingness to follow God and offer up his son Isaac, families purchase and sacrifice an animal each year, keep 1/3 of the meat, give 1/3 to close relatives and friends, and give 1/3 to charity. As we descended into the street post-prayer, the energy was palpable and children were shrieking happily, eating cotton candy and playing with new toys. Kelsey and I were handed gift bags paid for by the Muslim Brotherhood. (I think I'll keep the gently politicized coloring book for life.) Everyone wished us a happy eid and a good year and a blessed holiday; It was fun.

SO I don't want the focus of this post, or any of my talk on eid al-adha to necessarily be on the gruesomeness of the animal slaughter. Because most of it was just fine. Sheep and goats, sad, yes, and bloody, but not a huge deal, sorry.

But. Honestly. Cows? Cows ARE huge and have a LOT of blood, and seem really frightened before the moment they're done in. Despite all that thesis research, and that chapter that I wrote on certain slaughter methods being superior to other slaughter methods, I never actually in person witnessed life leave the body of any creature as large and as sentient as a cow before today, nor splashed through puddles of its blood. I still feel nauseous, and it might be a long time before I'm able to eat beef. I'm currently retooling everything I thought about animal slaughter in my head. 

Really and truly, the focus of Eid al-Adha is commemorating obedience to God, service, celebrating abundance, and giving to others. It's not about killing animals in the street; It's about celebrating in the street, with everyone! It just shocked my senses, all of them. (Who knew slaughter smelled like that?) 

 I took a lot of pictures of the weekend (and people were happy to oblige my taking them, and even wished me a happy eid!), but out of respect for you dear readers, and out of respect for the sanctity of the holiday, I've only included a couple distantly bloody ones. Warning, they be down therrr below.

Laura grieving for the unsuspecting lambs.

America night. Chocolate chip cookies, 25th of January Monopoly (wait, did we really forgot to play it?) and Domino's pizza that truly tasted exactly as it does in Austin, TX.

Sunrise prayer

Oh no, sheep!

:(

It's a community affair.