By allisonray94
Even if you're in the United States, you are probably aware that this past week the Muslim community celebrated Eid al-Adha. The holiday reminds me a lot of Christmas -- only instead of an old man in a red suit there are lambs everywhere. The lamb is a representation of the story of Abraham's sacrifice to God. In case you are unfamiliar, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Abraham was not a fan of this idea, but he trusted in God and prepared to kill his son. At the last minute, God tells Abraham to stop, and that he may sacrifice a lamb instead of his son. Eid al-Adha celebrates Abraham's faith in God and willingness to sacrifice his son. Traditionally, Muslim families who can afford it sacrifice their own lamb for Eid, keeping one third, giving another third to friends and family, and donating the rest to the poor.
I asked a lot of our program mentors what they were doing for Eid, and they all said the same thing: spending the holiday with family. The day of, shops close down and the world seems to stop outside of the home. For an unsuspecting tourist this can be slightly unsettling (there is practically no one on the usually busy streets), but I think it's also a reminder of how important family is in Jordan.
So now that you know what most people do for Eid al-Adha, here’s what I did. First, I did help (I use that word loosely) one of my mentor’s family make معمول, cookies traditionally prepared for the holiday. They’re essentially just dates stuffed inside shortbread-like dough, but then you have to crimp the outer edges to make them pretty. Mine were both beautiful and delicious, if I do say so myself.
Middlebury also cancelled classes for the holiday week, though, so most of the students took the opportunity to travel. I joined a group going to Aqaba, and I cannot recommend this highly enough. We paid a suspiciously low price for a boat ride out to the coral reefs, where we swam and snorkeled in the bluest water I’ve ever seen. From the boat, we could see Jordan, Israel, Egypt, and (farther off) Saudi Arabia. I saw more countries that day than I’ve visited in my life.
Stray observations this week:
- Lambs make cuter mascots than Santa.
- Instead of presents, children are gifted money during Eid al-Adha, thus avoiding 100% of awkwardly bad gifts from distant relatives.
- The public beach in Aqaba is a great place to people watch, but be warned that you will also be watched. Intensely.
- Vacationing in Jordan gives you some of the most gorgeous views on Earth for insanely low prices. Do it.