Eid

A few weeks ago there was a very special Muslim holiday: Eid. It happens 22 days after the end of Ramadan and it’s a pretty big holiday. In order to get an idea of its magnitude just think of Christmas. People are THAT exited about it! There are no presents but there is a special ritual that takes place during Eid. For this holiday a sheep is sacrificed. A lot of families buy a sheep and kill it in their house. Those sheep are pretty expensive, around 300 Tunisian dinars, which is about 160 EUR. The family gathers and the men kill the sheep. I actually got to see the poor animal before and I can tell you it surely knew what was going to happen to it. :) I also saw it after they killed it and I saw them pretty much taking it apart. I could describe this in much more detail but I won’t. I’ll spare all the vegetarians reading this, especially my dear sister! :) (Love you too, Schnuffy!) Before you start thinking “eeeeeew” and getting all disgusted by the image of somebody skinning an animal and taking out all its insides you have to understand the reason for this tradition. It’s a religious reason. So here’s a little background if you feel like reading about it (thanks Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha

Just for you to know I thought I would be really freaked out by seeing a dead animal but I managed to deal with it pretty well and had a lovely lunch! :) We had a really nice BBQ and stuffed ourselves like crazy! As far as I understand on the day when the sheep is sacrificed you BBQ the meat and the next day you make a special kind of couscous dish where you also include the insides of the animal. I tried that too and it was pretty delicious although I had some trouble with eating the stomach part.

Anyway, I had an awesome time and I’m thankful to Mehdi from LC Bardo who invited me to join his family on this special day!