Eid Mubarak!

I cannot believe I waited this long to tell you about EID! Eid is a Muslim holiday commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Ishmael and Allah providing a sacrifice. This Eid is actually the second Eid of the year. The first happens at the breaking of the fast of Ramadan. This Eid is also known as Korbani Eid. As part of this festival, every family sacrifices a cow (if they can afford it, a goat if not) for the forgiveness of sins. The city I am currently living in is about 95% Muslim. So, seemingly everyone celebrated this holiday. For weeks before the actual festival there were huge cattle markets. Sarah and I were lucky enough to drive past one every day on our way to school. Hmm.. it smelled so nice. There was a lot of traffic here leading up to Eid. Many people had come from the villages to both sell and buy their cows. My favorite cow (yes I've seen hundreds and can pick my favorite.) was a huge white cow with a flower wreath around its neck with its horns painted red. Favorite quote from the days leading up to Eid....We were on our way to Pizza Hut (it was a big deal) and a friend four year old was looking out the window and saw multiple families leading their cows done the road and yelled COWS! Sarah leaned to me and said, This could be a long ride.

As Eid approached, Sarah and I expected to be outside the city in a village for a homestay but two days before Eid George, our supervisor, came into town and told us he had been invited to his friend's house for Eid and we were invited to come along. You can not believe how excited I was for my first Eid celebration with a Muslim family. (no sarcasm). I failed to mention earlier that this friend is a millionaire in dollars. His house is a six story high rise with a pool in the basement. No, I did not get to go swimming. Thankfully, George is wonderfully understanding and allowed us to wait to head over to the house until about 10a.m. well after the sacrifice throat slitting. So, we piled in the car and headed across town. Approximately every 20 feet along the road was a family hacking away at a cow. I can now honestly say that I have seen every part inside or out of a cow. At one point, we drove our van down a narrow road being careful not to run over any people or sacrifices as we inched forward only to be stopped about 100 feet before our destination because the road was closed. So, we had to back all the way down the road trying desperately to not offend anyone by inadvertently hitting anything. Thankfully, George performed a small miracle and we made it out unscathed.

We arrived at our friend's house to find that he had sacrificed five cows and a few goats earlier that day. The cows were lying in pieces on the side of the road and throughout his garage. It was an interesting sight I will never forget to be certain. We tiptoed precariously through the garage careful to not step on any meat or blood. Once inside the house we were greeted by our hosts wife and daughter. They are so precious. We were led upstairs to a room to wait for lunch to be served. As we waited, we talked in Bangla and English and got to know the daughter. She is "ten plus." She attends the American school here so she speaks very good English which was very helpful for us. At one point, I realized that she had mahedi on her hand, so, we asked her who had done it for her. She told us her mom had done it the day before. Then her mom offered to do it for us. It was a fun bonding experience and she was very good at it. Our designs were very intricate. Soon lunch was served which was rice and three types of meat. If you know me at all, you will realize that this is not exactly my dream lunch. Plus, people here eat every meal with nothing but their right hand. I'm horrible at it. So, I picked my way through chicken, goat, and OF COURSE BEEF! The meat was actually very good.

Part of the Eid celebration is the distribution of the meat. You keep a third of the meat for yourself, give a third to friends and family, and give a third to the poor. So, we hung out at the house waiting for the butchering to be finished. Then the meat would be handed out. By five there were over 150 people waiting with bags to get some of the meat. They lined the roads. The daughter led Sarah and I up to the balcony in her room to watch them handing out the meat. See the photo above. It is actually a cool part of this festival. Regardless of your wealth, everyone can celebrate and enjoy a good meal for a few days. I was very privileged to be able to spend Eid with this family. I now have a very good idea of what a true Eid celebration entails. Please be lifting up this family. They have heard the message many times but do not believe.

Eid is an important holiday for my team because it is a wonderful time to have good conversations about the Lord. Every year Muslims sacrifice a cow in hopes that Allah will be pleased and forgive their sins. We know the one true worthy sacrifice that was performed many years ago.