Eid Mubarak!

Last week, I had the joy of spending Eid al Adha for the first time with my wonderful host family! Eid al Adha is a holiday commemorating the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son when God ordered him to. To remember this obedience, Muslim families around the world sacrifice animals--sheep, cows, goats and even chickens--and spend time with family and friends.The celebration takes place annually at the end of the twelfth month in the Islamic calender, after the pilgrimage to Mecca, called the Hajj, comes to a close. You can read more about the story behind Eid al Adha here!

In Morocco, most families sacrifice sheep. This meant that, during the weeks leading up to Eid, the city swelled with sheep-- their cries of "baa-baa" and their stench filling the normally crisp fall air. Trucks wound through the streets, carrying men and their sheep of choice from souk. A few days before Eid, my host mother motioned me over to look out the window of our laundry room. She pointed with a smile on her face to a single sheep in the courtyard below, and gestured so that I understood: this was the sheep that would be sacrificed in our home the following Wednesday. I looked forward to Eid with excitement--the inevitable mutton centered dishes and time spent preparing these dishes with my host family.

The morning of the Eid I awoke to a special call to prayer, called Salat Al Eid. When the prayer ended, people spilled onto the street from the mosque, all headed home to sacrifice their animals. Not fifteen minutes later, my sister motioned me to the balcony. On the sidewalk below us, I saw sheep heads roasting on a charcoal fire. The reality that almost every part of the sheep would be eaten set in. My family and I watched the king sacrifice his sheep on TV, which vaguely reminded me of watching the Macy's Day Thanksgiving parade before digging into a huge meal of turkey and stuffing.

When the time for the sacrifice came, the sheep was brought from the courtyard to the laundry room of the apartment. We gathered around, petting it and taking pictures, before our neighbor came over to perform the sacrifice. Our neighbor, the concierge, and my host uncle held down the sheep, and with the words "bismillah allah akhbar" and two swift cuts to the throat, it began to bleed out. It didn't take long for the sheep to quiver one final time and die. I watched with a mixture of interest and sadness as they cut a small hole in the sheep skin and inflated it, before removing the fur and skin. When I came back to the laundry room a few hours later, I found the sheep carcass hung by the ceiling. The first day, we ate the organ meat on kebabs, which my host family cooked on a charcoal grill. As I watched the apartment fill with smoke, I realized that fire alarms don't exist here.

The next day my host mom butchered the rest of the carcass herself. I helped her to do so, but watched from the side as she cleaned its head. As is customary, we gave some of the meat away to those who could not afford a sheep and some it to friends. I have become very familiar with the taste of mutton over the past few days! The streets have come to a stand still, for once. Many of the stores have remained closed through the weekend, because the owners are spending the holiday with extended family in far away cities. Eid festivities vary across Morocco and around the world. I've enjoyed learning about Eid around the world through the blog posts of my YES Abroad counterparts! You can read about Eid in Ghana here, Eid in Oman here, and Eid in Indonesia here. Two common themes seem hold Eid festivities together--food and family. I loved spending Eid with my family and hope that this was just the first of many Eid celebrations to come!