Eid Al-Adha

Saturday is Eid which is a sacred holiday here in uae. It is in celebration of Abraham killing the fatted sheep instead of having to sacrifice his only son. The 10 days before Eid, is called Eid Al-Adha, Feast of the Sacrifice, where Muslims in uae prepare for the feast. They celebrate with all sorts if yummy food of course. Kapsa, which is the cooked sheep, briyani rice (which is really Indian but the emirates have incorporated it into their diets), halwa, which is a sweet date paste, and legimat, which is a fried dough covered in honey and white sesame seeds.

The kids decorate the classrooms with posters about Abraham and his sheep.

 They are to give a third of their food to charity, a third to the community, and eat the last third. Here at my school that means for the past 4 days the students have come around to each office and given all the teachers loads and loads of candy!!! If you want to win the heart of any teacher, give her food! I wouldn't mind some of that marinated kapsa either! I'm just saying! As the girls come around to all the teacher offices, they say a prayer," there is only one God. There is no God but God." When they pray here however, it is by singing ( singing is considered haram which means forbidden in the Quran. Actually, a student and I have a running argument on how to spell Koran in English. I've always seen it with a "k" but she swears, walla walla, that it is with a "q"!)

The students made these boards to show the journey to Hajj or Mecca, for Muslims.

At my school today, there are sheep in the courtyard. Yes, sheep, poor things. They are tied around a tent pool and looking miserable. When I went out to take a picture, one of the sheep had gotten loose. Luckily, it just went to the other sheep and was hanging out. All the girls were screaming and the school cleaners were trying to grab the rope, which was under his neck. I just walked up and grabbed it and handed it to her to tie up. Hero Ms. Ayanna saves the day!! They gave me some galaxy chocolate for my efforts! Takiah,takiah, takiah!! (Which means like hurray)

Eid Mubarak, everyone!

Ciao for now!