PS. JanetLand, thanks for the radio station link; I was listening to James Brown a few minutes ago—YOOOOOOW!

Happy Eid!

Eid mubarak! :)

Wonderful, I thought I'd missed Eid, so now I can text my friends and don't feel guilty. ( I read on Wikipedia that it was the 12th???)

Eid Mubarak Hadjiboy!

Isn't it different dates in different countries? I was just talking to a friend in Cairo earlier & I could hear a lot of fireworks. I think they feasted a lot yesterday too.

Sometimes I'm so jealous of people from other cultures besides my own uber-bland WASPy one. When they celebrate, it seems so much more festive somehow. My Yugoslavian ex and his family always had the most fun holiday gatherings, nothing like the torturously dull, superficial holidays held by my wacked-out family. And the best Christmas I have ever had was in Austria, where the stores were all closed most of the time which would NEVER happen in America. That Christmas in Vienna was all about drinking gluhwein at street stands and visiting people and eating too much and walking around in the snow eating warm chestnuts & stuff. I LOVED that it had nothing to do with buying crap, being told you need to buy more crap, and worrying that people don't love you if they don't buy you crap. Oh, and then buying more crap you don't need the day after the holiday because there's a sale on crap. Honestly, it was the most relaxing and beautiful holiday season I've ever had. Just spending time enjoying the winter season itself (sans crap) was so wonderful.

Of course, on the flip side... I'm also quite glad that in California I don't have to watch anyone slaughtering sheep in the streets. I don't think I would deal well with Eid al-Adha. I have a friend who stays indoors that whole day and I'd have to do the same. That's on New Year's eve this year, isn't it hadjiboy? Do they do openly do the slaughter where you live?

I think the Austrians would probably qualify as WASPs, though. :-)

Huh. 74% Catholic. Never mind -- I stand corrected ... by myself. Or something.

(waiting for comment from Eideteker)

Yeah, they're big Catholics. And a lot of the gluhwein stands I went to were on church property and run by the church. Lush that I am, I'm all for religious holiday traditions that feature delicious warm alcoholic drinks...

w00t! congrats!

So is everyone really crabby during Ramadan? I know I would be- low blood sugar = yi!

One of my islamic friends didn't want to fast but because of social pressure he felt he couldn't get out of it... he didn't want to stand out at work as a "bad" muslim. So he fasted for the first four or five days but then began sneaking cigarettes & food every day. He's very relieved it's over so he doesn't have to lie any more. I can tell you he was VERY cranky when he was fasting though.

Heh, I did that once; was too depressed to fast; thought I wasn't worthy of it; had issues with god and what not; but felt so damn guilty all the time that I swore I wouldn't do it again.

Besides, I've been fasting since I was a kid so it's not that difficult for me to abstain from food and water for 12 hours, although I'm not a smoker.

That's on New Year's eve this year, isn't it hadjiboy? Do they do openly do the slaughter where you live?

Well, according to this site, it's going to be around the 20th of December, give or take a day. And yes, it varries from country to country. Sometimes even from state to state, depending on the sighting of the (new) moon.

As for the slaughter of sheep/goats/camels and cows, well, we do it at my dad's eldest brother's house. And no, it's not done very publicly--I mean sure, people know what we're doing, but we don't advertise it.

Although, when I was living in Saudi Arabia, it was done much more openly than it is over here. Or at least that's how I perceived it, it being a muslim country and all.

(miss lynster, if you're ever in this part of the world during Ramadan, you HAVE to stop by...)

and that invitation is extended to all/any mefites/mechazens.

Yay to Eid.
Boo to not getting the smells of Fast Breaking food when walking home from work late.
Yay to being able to get a taxi again at 7.00pm.
Boo to the fact that I only learnt that "Eid" meant celebration recently. I thought it was a specific holiday. Like Xmas or Easter.

I know in Cairo it's pretty public. Here's a story about it that was in Salon way back in 2000.

i knew i had forgotten somebody!

Eid Mubarak, hadjiboy!