The second major important holiday for Muslims (besides Eid al-Fitr, which happens at the end of the holy month of Ramadan) is Eid al-Adha, or holiday of the sacrifice. In Muslim tradition, God asked Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ishmael (this is Abraham sacrificing Isaac in Judeo-Christian tradition)and at the last minute, God replaced Ishmael with a sheep, allowing Ibrahim's son to live.
To celebrate the Eid, Muslim families sacrifice a sheep, dividing it into three parts. One part goes to the family, one part to the neighbors or extended family, and one part to the poor. Wealthier families who are able also buy sheep to donate to others.
I asked one of my friends which part of the sheep goes to which group. He told me that he remembered as a small child being asked by an uncle to come out to the yard. His relatives said, "Which one for the family?" he pointed. "Which one for the neighbors?" He pointed. "Which one for charity?" He pointed a third time. And thus it was decided with the innocence of a child. This doesn't necessarily happen every time, but I thought it was a beautiful story nonetheless.
The slaughtering is done all over the city, wherever the shepherds are, sometimes in people's backyards. Here's a picture of some sheep waiting for their last moments.
(I also have some pictures of sheep limbs and organs strewn about the neighborhood, which at first I was excited about posting, but I thought better of it, and your eyes have been spared, dear reader!)
The holiday is two or three days long - a time for visiting family, celebrating, and buying new clothes and toys for the children. This year it came just a few days before Christmas, on December 19th and 20th, though this is not always the case since Islam operates with a lunar calendar.
The Western new year in Amman is a cause for celebration (and January 1 is a national holiday), but it is not the wild debauchery that we're used to in the States. Many of the classier bars and restaurants have New Year celebrations, but these are 40-50 JD minimum to attend, and didn't seem worth it to me. I didn't have any plans for New Year's Eve until that very afternoon, when happily some friends decided to have a party.
*As a sidenote, this type of late planning is the norm here, and this has taken me some time to get used to. In my experience in the States, if someone invited you to a party - especially on an occasion like New Year's Eve - several hours before the fact, it would be rather insulting. Such an invitation would send a tacit message that your hosts didn't think you had much of a social life, or that they thought their plans so important, you'd drop whatever you were doing to attend. Here, plans are more often made several hours beforehand, and the ones made more than a day in advance are frequently modified or canceled. A consequence of the intense and ubiquitous mobile phone culture here? A side effect of the relatively more relaxed pace? An epidemic of tardy inspiration? Who knows?
At any rate, I rang in the new year laughing, which is what matters to me. The party was lovely. When I think that at this time last year I was still an undergraduate student, and now I am celebrating 2008 in Amman as a Rotary Scholar with people from Jordan, America, Australia, Germany, Iraq, and even Saudi Arabia, among others, I can't even believe my good fortune. Quite simply, this year is changing my life. There will always be the time "before" Amman, and "after" it.
Happy New Year!
0 comments:
Post a Comment