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| Cakes left over from a wedding and gifted to us - LOVE the tajine dish! |
Every Eid we have had since we moved to Algeria has been
different, and what has made each one unique is the variation of people with
whom we have celebrated - different in-laws each time, but this year Eid Al
Adha was markedly different in that we celebrated it as a family on our
own. This wasn’t what we had planned,
but then man plans and Allah is the Best of Planners.
I was really looking forward to a lovely relaxing Eid al
Adha (or as they call it here in Algeria – Eid Al Kabeer, the Big Eid). We didn’t have enough money to buy a sheep so
we didn’t have all that work to prepare for, and instead I was looking forward
to spending a nice relaxing morning with the boys doing the rounds of the
neighbours to help out if necessary, with me sitting drinking coffee and
reading, and then a trip into my mother-in-law for a dinner not cooked by me
(what a treat!), and then back home for a lovely relaxing evening with the
family. What could go wrong????
Two days before Eid my husband received a call from a friend
who, when he found out in the course of conversation that we were not having a
sheep this year, told my husband to go to a particular place and get a sheep
for which payment was already made. My
husband didn’t understand what exactly he was talking about but decided to go
and find out anyway. And….what was my
reaction to this unexpected gift???
Gratitude? Amazement at another’s kindness? Praise to Allah for His mercy on us???? Erm…….no….not a bit of it. Yours Truly’s reaction was to feel sick to
the pit of my stomach as I watched my vision of the Perfect Eid slowly fade
away, and instead be replaced by one of work, blood, gore, poo (the sheep’s
that is I hasten to add!)and lots and lots of water and cleaning. ‘What’s the
point – it’s not going to be ‘our’ sheep anyway as we didn’t buy it so why
bother with all the work when we won’t get the blessing of it’ and on and on I
went….as only I can do. My husband, to
give him his due, didn’t argue, just sympathised with me but nevertheless went on his merry way to seek
out this sheep, the downfall of my Perfect Eid.
We had a very special guest (happy to say a two legged one)that
day who we took, along with her children, to the beach for afternoon chocolate
cake and doughnuts in the beautiful autumnal sunshine. We returned to find the sheep happily
ensconced in our front courtyard munching away…….on my fledgling olive tree and
making short work of it and my other plants.
I so wanted to slaughter it there and then…..and my husband along with
it, but refrained and instead made do with getting them to tie it up away from
what was left of my plants.
This sheep was a quiet, placid, well behaved one as sheep go
– it didn’t strain at its restraints or bleat all night long, but just happily
accepted its fate, sitting in straw in the corner under a window and munched
away – the noise is very evocative of children munching on crunchy breakfast
cereal....chomp, chomp, chomp.
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| Love this drive into my in-laws. Often I can't believe I actually LIVE here! |
Eid day came and, after the prayer, once the children had
fortified themselves with homemade chocolate cake and biscuits it was all hands
on deck. My husband, following the Sunnah
didn’t want anything to eat or drink until he had slaughtered the sheep, which
he did with his customary care and kindness – stroking it and calming it and
not letting it see the knife, not even for a second and, once he had done the
deed everyone had their part to play.
One kept the knives sharp with our electric knife sharpener, another
poked a hole under the skin and started to blow it up so that it could be
removed easily, another was cleaning up the blood from the slaughter, and then it
was a group effort to remove the skin with everyone joining in….everyone except
me.
First I cleaned up the front courtyard where the sheep had
been sleeping and then hosed it down and left it to dry. As I did so I could hear all the arguing,
exclaiming and bursts of laughter from the central courtyard and I felt so
grateful for this blessing, because even though it didn’t feel like a celebration
of the kind to which I was accustomed in my childhood….you know, the kind with
presents, lovely new clothes, decorations, etc. it felt like it in a new,
different way, where everyone pulled together to get the job done and had fun
in doing so. Some families play board or
card games…we…..slaughter and cut up a sheep.
In the end the same result…..quality family time together and at least
we get to eat the results Alhamdulilah.
Then I
was busy preparing food in the form of chicken roasting in the oven, chips,
salad, to go with the liver, heart and other innards which would be fried up
and served on a bed of fried onions along with lovely crusty French baguettes. The children commented on each organ as it
was removed and, as I felt them, still warm, in my hands I felt a deep
gratitude to Allah, first for this wonderful food, and then to the sheep who
had been sacrificed in the most humane way possible, so that we could have this
wonderful meal Alhamdulilah. I also said
a lot of ‘astaghfirAllah’s for my initial reaction to Allah’s risq and blessing
to us.
Once my boys and my husband had finished with our sheep they
went across the road to help the neighbour with his one. He had a new son-in-law who was willing to do
the job, but our neighbour insisted that it wasn’t Eid if my husband and boys
were not involved so they waited until they were free. So sweet especially considering that, 11 y
ears ago, they didn’t know we existed.
Just goes to show you don’t have to live a lifetime on the same street
to become good neighbours Alhamdulilah.
And perhaps the one thing that cast a special glow over the
whole day was the simple but moving reason we received a ‘free’ sheep in the first
place - A man gave away 20 sheep in memory of his father who had passed away. We don’t know this man, or who his father was
but, in an age where everywhere you look, newspaper and TV news headlines,
Facebook updates etc. there is so much
negativity, Allah with this one simple act, blessed us with the knowledge and
hope that there is always more good than bad in this world. Alhamdulilah.
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| On our way into my in-laws the 2nd day of Eid. The rectangular building is the El Aurassi Hotel |
