Eid al-Adha is the biggest Muslim celebration. It is celebrated on the 10th day of the last month of the lunar Islamic calendar (which is called Dhu al-Hijjah). On this day, Muslim families get together and sacrifice generally a sheep (but they can also sacrifice other animals like goats, cows or camels). There is a very good and warm ambiance that can be compared with those other families get when they gather for celebrations like Christmas or Thanksgiving.
First of all, to present you this very important Muslim holiday, we should talk about the history and the origin of this celebration.
In fact, this celebration happens to commemorate Ibrahim's (Abraham's Arabic name) obedience to God when he accepted to sacrifice his son Isma'il. Indeed, according to the Qur'an, Ibrahim was ordered by God in his dream to offer his son as a sacrifice, as he was a prophet he knew that his dream was inspired by God and he decided to fulfill His will. Because he couldn't do that without informing his son, Ibrahim told him what God wanted. Isma'il said that what his father have been commended should be done, so he accepted. When both the father and the son were almost making the sacrifice, God stopped Ibrahim telling him that He didn't need Isma'il to be killed and instead of that Ibrahim was told to sacrifice a ram.
This is basically the religious story which is the origin of this annual celebration.
Then, we're going to tell you more in details the procedure of the feast, especially how it is celebrated in Morocco.
At first, in the morning, a collective prayer takes place in Mosques or big places. At the end of it, the Imam (the person who leads Islamic worship services) sacrifices a goat.
From this moment, people exchange the Eid greetings and come back home. They take a great breakfast with their family and they start sacrificing their goat. Throughout the day, they prepare typical special meals with meat (for example skewer, roast, tajine... accompanied with Moroccan tea and pastries) and they welcome friends and family to enjoy this traditional cooking.
The meat that people get from the sacrifice serves to prepare familial and guest meals but a part must be reserved and offered as charity to poor people.
Sometimes, this celebration is also the opportunity to buy clothes, especially for children. Even if they don't buy them, they put on their most beautiful and traditional clothes and, women possibly adorn their hands with Henna patterns.
It's important to note that buying and sacrificing a goat is not compulsory if you cannot afford it but customs make it sound that way in people's mind, so everyone wants his goat. This day has an official status, it's a holiday for everyone, no one works and stores are closed. Moreover, during the morning when the sacrifice happens, streets are almost empty.
Finally, in our opinion, Eid al-Adha is a very important holiday and it is much more than a simple sacrifice because it gathers families in happy, jovial and loving atmosphere, it allows people to appreciate oneself as a member of a community. We think that this family dimension characterize typically this celebration. Moreover, we can say that the fact people must give charity to poor persons in need contributes highly to preserve Moroccans' moral, and especially generosity and sharing.
Therefore, as we can see, Moroccan population is united because of its culture and traditions which promote the group before the person.
We hope this introduction helped you to understand a little bit more Moroccan culture and traditions and you enjoyed reading it ! Thank you for your interest.
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