Eid Mubarak!
Writing this post a day after the 1st day of Eid Adha, yesterday was a blurr! I want to share with you my Eid Adha day!
My family and I drove out from Raleigh North Carolina to participate in Eid Adha with my extended family (Mom, brother, sister inlaw, nephews) in Virginia. My husband had also ordered our lamb – for slaughtering – at the local farm in Maryland. This is about 1 hour away from where my brother lives in Virginia. So, we started our day early in the morning just after fajr (right now Fajr is around 6:15 am) dressed warmly and drove out from my brothers place to the farm in Maryland and got there around 7:30am. Masha Allah there were so many families already there! So we parked and walked over to one of the barns to pray! Masha Allah! It was super organized with special tarp covering the ground and clean place to pray. Not only that all the Muslims, although coming from many cultures were all organized and relaxed. We prayed and after the prayer I gave out some chocolates to the children and sisters.
Now on the same note of being organized, all the brothers got in line and pulled a number so to take turns in slaughtering their lamb(s). While they were busy doing that the sisters and children got in line to eat futor (breakfast) that was prepared by the organizers. We had, mesmin (traditional moroccan paranatha), anis bread, croissants, eggs, sweets and tea, juice and coffee. Masha Allah they fed all the families. The sisters then also set up their picnic blankets, chairs and grills all over the farm. It was amazing! Picture this, the background is the foilage (the changing of the leaves because it is the Fall Season in America), we are on a remote farm, with barns around and Muslim families spread out, children running and playing! What a sight!
Since, I used to live in the DC Metro area, I met many sisters I hadn’t seen in many many years! How refreshing! But also a blessing, since we traveled from another state we didn’t bring food, drink or blankets! Lol! So, the sisters extended access to their coolers, food and blankets for us to relax on! Allhamdullilah!!
While waiting, my sons came to get me and say it is our turn to slaughter the lamb! We rubbed him, and hugged him! Made du’a and my husband slaughtered him. Allhamdulillah it went well. Some of the brothers lost control of their lambs and the lambs went running around all over the farm onto the blankets and one of them got lost in the forest! Lol! That was so cool to see! My kids had a blast! They helped corral the hundreds of lambs and got to play with other kids (even though they didn’t know them) they just played!
Many of the families after they slaughtered their lamb, they cut up the liver and wrapped each piece with the lining of the lambs stomach — apparently this seems to be a Moroccan culture. Then they grilled it on skewers. Kebab kelb (liver). And lunch got under way.
We headed home to Virginia to have lunch with the rest of the family.
It was an amazing day! Okay, we did close the day with Halal Pizza and Stromboli (yeah, super tired to cook anything!) Maybe today we will cook a portion of it? Not sure. But today will have to head home since Monday is back to the realities of Dunia.
I hope you had a great Eid Adha as well!
Warmest wishes from Fairfax, Virginia.
