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#Post#: 29102--------------------------------------------------
Dhu'l Hijjah
By: Emlyn Morgan Date: June 7, 2024, 5:15 pm
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I had a glass of milk outside a cafe down on the lower promenade
not long ago. (I'd had enough wine with my lunch, so I didn't go
to the bar. ) The sun set out of a clear sky into a calm sea. No
green flash. Then the orange / red afterglow along the sea
horizon and in the sky.
I wasn't thinking about what stars I might see later as the sky
would darken. I wasn't thinking about the moon. But suddenly
there she was. The first sliver of the new moon following the
sun into the ocean.
So it is a new month. The first day of Dhu'l-Hijjah in the year
1445. This means that the religious authorities in Fes can
calculate the date of Eid Kebir. Probably 17th June in the
international calendar.
My smartphone already confirms the date. How did the lords and
masters of the Internet know? Did they just observe the
crescent moon, as well?
Why is it important? Well the bars will close for several days,
so I have to stock up! Also bread - the bakers will take a few
days holiday. And meat - the butchers will take a long holiday
because every family will kill a sheep, and will have plenty of
meat, not needing to visit a butcher for a long while.
I went up to a weekly open-air market up in the hills on
Thursday. The market was exceptionally busy, especially the
livestock area. Hundreds of sheep on offer at around 4000 -
5000 dirhams. You take it home, maybe by taxi or bus. More
often by pick-up truck. You feed it until the day of Eid, when
you slit its throat and hang it up for the blood to drain.
Ninety percent of families will slaughter, skin and butcher the
animal themselves. If you commission a butcher to come, he'll
charge 200 dirhams.
Goodness. I remember posting a picture here last year. The years
go by!
.
#Post#: 29103--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: Plagosus Date: June 8, 2024, 4:16 pm
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In the 1970s we bought a sheep for a family at the Sousse camel
market. It cost ten dinars. It was transported home in a fiacre.
(Apparently they no longer sell livestock at the camel market.)
#Post#: 29104--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: David M. Katz Date: June 9, 2024, 3:57 pm
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[quote author=Plagosus link=topic=3211.msg29103#msg29103
date=1717881370]
(Apparently they no longer sell livestock at the camel market.)
[/quote]
Perhaps cigarettes? ;D
#Post#: 29105--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: ivor Date: June 10, 2024, 2:54 am
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[quote author=David M. Katz link=topic=3211.msg29104#msg29104
date=1717966652]
[quote author=Plagosus link=topic=3211.msg29103#msg29103
date=1717881370]
(Apparently they no longer sell livestock at the camel market.)
[/quote]
Perhaps cigarettes? ;D
[/quote]
Let's hope Plag doesn't get the hump at that comment. :)
#Post#: 29106--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: Emlyn Morgan Date: June 10, 2024, 2:16 pm
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I've rarely seen camels on sale in Morocco, although one passes
herds of them, and camel meat is on sale in the local market -
so I don't know how the animals are bought and sold.
Fiacre? Is that a hired horse and cart? Here, one sees donkeys
used as personal transport or as pack animals, not often pulling
a cart. And rarely a horse and cart.
In the weekly open-air market I mentioned, there was every sort
of mechanical transport. The most startling sight was four live
sheep tied to a roof-rack. I would like to take photos but the
market was crowded and the local culture is that you don't take
photos of people.
Over the years I've found myself travelling with live sheep a
few times. Once the sheep was in the hold under the bus (I was
in the passenger compartment!) Another time, in the Ameln
Valley, I was in the front passenger seat of an unofficial taxi
- an ancient Renault estate car (station wagon); the driver
stopped to pick up a woman and two sheep. The sheep travelled
behind the back seat. I've also travelled in the back of a
Transit van (minivan in USA speak) which had a grille to
separate humans from other species.
#Post#: 29108--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: Plagosus Date: June 10, 2024, 5:15 pm
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[quote author=Emlyn Morgan link=topic=3211.msg29106#msg29106
date=1718046985]Fiacre? Is that a hired horse and cart?[/quote]
It is a horse and carriage like this one:
HTML https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-horse-carriages-on-beachfront-promenade-sousse-sousse-governorate-27958556.html
#Post#: 29136--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: Emlyn Morgan Date: June 17, 2024, 9:32 am
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Warning! Not for those sensitive about animal slaughter.
Well, I'm learning more things I didn't know about Eid el Adha,
(the Festival of the Sacrifice) (or Eid Kebir) , some quite
surprising.
My companion had bought a sheep (for 3500 dirhams) which was
kept in the riad (Arabic for courtyard) of his family house.
Today, Monday, which is the day of Eid el Adha, my companion,
his nephew and some neighbours held the animal by it's legs
while one of them slit her throat. This could be done only after
the King had slaughtered a sheep - as reported on TV.
The men removed the skin and fleece, and severed the head and
hooves which go to another place for extraction of the eatable
parts such as the inside cheeks, tongue, eyes, etc. The head is
cleft in twain for the purpose.
Back in the house, the women clean the dead animal, cut out the
interior edibles, and carve out the meat parts.
No part will be eaten until the day after the slaughter.
This is all special for this one day of the year. Normally, meat
is bought from a butcher ready slaughtered.
What else can I say?
#Post#: 29142--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: Emlyn Morgan Date: June 17, 2024, 5:13 pm
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Young Mohamed helps out. (Last year.)
[attachimg=1]
#Post#: 30525--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: Emlyn Morgan Date: February 27, 2025, 4:36 pm
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Very surprising news.
The King has just enjoined the people not to perform the
sacrifice of Eid el Adha this year, because we are in the
seventh year of drought, so that pasture area and sheep numbers
are greatly declining while prices are greatly increasing.
This seems to be alike unto cancelling Christmas or Easter in a
Christian country
The holiday will be very different. What will people do?
#Post#: 30529--------------------------------------------------
Re: Dhu'l Hijjah
By: ivor Date: February 28, 2025, 2:47 am
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[quote author=Emlyn Morgan link=topic=3211.msg30525#msg30525
date=1740695785]
Very surprising news.
The King has just enjoined the people not to perform the
sacrifice of Eid el Adha this year, because we are in the
seventh year of drought, so that pasture area and sheep numbers
are greatly declining while prices are greatly increasing.
This seems to be alike unto cancelling Christmas or Easter in a
Christian country
The holiday will be very different. What will people do?
[/quote]
Sacrifice if Infidels?? :o
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