**I apologize for the ridiculously long silence, readers (if we have any readers left!). I've started several posts and just haven't finished them. I just found this one that is rather boring, but completed. I'm going to post anyway; more for my benefit than anything else. Enjoy?**
This year marks the first time the Mister and I have stayed put for the Eid al Adha vacation. Our first year in Saudi we went to Dubai and last year we were in Spain with my family. I still don't have my residence visa for Kuwait yet, so we had ourselves a little staycation in Kuwait. I must say that sleeping in my own bed, lounging around all day without feeling guilty about not taking advantage of the touristy fun, and cooking in my own kitchen is a pretty good way to spend a long weekend!
Eid al Adha is the feast of the sacrifice. It celebrates the return of pilgrims from the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca) as well as the near sacrifice of Ismail by Abraham (that's the Islamic version of the story). There is a lot of slaughtering of sheep, goats, camels, and various other livestock. My dad tells stories of the streets in his childhood home being filled with the blood of the sacrificed animals. Because we have always travelled, I've never seen this kind of carnage, so I wasn't sure what to expect this year.
Long story short: it was pretty uneventful! I didn't see any blood at all. There were a few sightings of sheep in the backs of trucks on their way to their doom...even one sheep stuffed in the way back of a Chevy Tahoe, but we didn't stumble upon any of our neighbors in the middle of their slaughter. The feral children (the neighborhood kids who are allowed to roam the streets unsupervised) had a great time with the firecrackers and I think we might have heard a few celebratory gun shots, but other than that, it was just a quiet weekend at home.
While America is dealing with a hurricane on the east coast, presidential elections, and cold snaps, we're enjoying temperatures in the low 90s, Halloween preparation, the first rain of the school year, and mall walking. Just a typical weekend in Kuwait.
Eid Mubarak, y'all!
Vicariously yours,
This year marks the first time the Mister and I have stayed put for the Eid al Adha vacation. Our first year in Saudi we went to Dubai and last year we were in Spain with my family. I still don't have my residence visa for Kuwait yet, so we had ourselves a little staycation in Kuwait. I must say that sleeping in my own bed, lounging around all day without feeling guilty about not taking advantage of the touristy fun, and cooking in my own kitchen is a pretty good way to spend a long weekend!
Eid al Adha is the feast of the sacrifice. It celebrates the return of pilgrims from the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca) as well as the near sacrifice of Ismail by Abraham (that's the Islamic version of the story). There is a lot of slaughtering of sheep, goats, camels, and various other livestock. My dad tells stories of the streets in his childhood home being filled with the blood of the sacrificed animals. Because we have always travelled, I've never seen this kind of carnage, so I wasn't sure what to expect this year.
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| This is the closest we've gotten to seeing the sacrifice: families in Morocco bringing their sheep to the butcher to be prepared for the feast. So many sheep are slaughtered during Eid al Adha that this is the busiest time of the year for Australia and New Zealand! |
While America is dealing with a hurricane on the east coast, presidential elections, and cold snaps, we're enjoying temperatures in the low 90s, Halloween preparation, the first rain of the school year, and mall walking. Just a typical weekend in Kuwait.
Eid Mubarak, y'all!
Vicariously yours,
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