To each his own holiday

Happy Holidays! Hope it’s a joyous one. While Christmas lights, last minute shopping and midnight mass are the landscape in the states today, Morocco prepares for its own holiday. With the Islamic holiday L’eid Kabir approaching on Jan. 1, its only major indicator (visible to me) of its arrival is the caravans of rams on the side of the roads outside of major cities like Oujda.

L’eid Kabir celebrates Abraham’s sacrificing of a lamb instead of his son. On the morning of L’eid, each family commences in slaughtering a ram. In my village, most families bought a ram months ago, using the intervening months to fatten it up, However, in major cities where people live in close quarters and don’t have room to shepherd a ram, they buy theirs from dealers outside of town.

This will be my first L’eid Kabir. I expect it to be somewhat like Ramadan minus the fasting and over a shorter time span, but with those essential, successful ingredients of any holiday; family, food, and celebration.