There are two Eids. There's the first one, at the end of Ramadan, the Great Breaking of the fast, and then a couple of months later, there's another Eid, Eid al-Adha. The one with the Sheep.
The second Eid is to commemorate a story known to Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. The one where God calls Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his first and only son in an act of obedience, but right at the last moment, when he's just about to go through with it, God intervenes and provides a lamb for sacrifice instead. The God, he's such a messer!
In Muslim countries, this means we get two days off, and families buy a sheep to slaughter at home. To us Infidels, it's incredible. All through the night for the whole week before, all you can hear is the sad little sheep, bleating in your neighbours' gardens, preparing themselves for the big goodbye.
The supermarkets go crazy to get in on the act. Sheep are sold in huge tents in the car park, and families go along to pick them out like Christmas Trees. And they are expensive, the big ones are anywhere upwards of 600DTN, which is about £250. From the supermarket, you can also buy the food and a bit of hay for the poor little fella to sleep on.
Traditionally, the slaughtered meat is divided into three parts. The family keep one third, another third is given to friends and relatives (this is where I really seemed to profit!) and the last third is given to the poor or needy.
Personally, I enjoy the brutality of it. This gigantic slaughter of animals seems so barbaric and old-fashioned in this day and age, and adds to the wonder and spectacle of the festival. On the day of the slaughter, my sister and her fiance were here (more on those adventures later) and we drove through some of the biggest cities in Tunisia, and they looked like complete ghost towns, besides the odd group of men barbecuing a sheep's head at the roadside.
It was a great Eid... and an unexpected but glorious by-product of the festival? The wool shops are now very well stocked.
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