19 December 2007

Happy Idul-Adha, Everyone!



“Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
the next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61." ”

عيد الأضحى or Idul-Adha is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims and Druze worldwide as a commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael for Allah.

What's a Druze, you say? The Druze are a religious community found primarily in Lebanon, Israel, and Syria whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of the Ismaili sect of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies.

Idul-Adha is 4 days long and starts on the 10th day of the month of of the lunar Islamic calendar. This is the day after the pilgrims in Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.

Idul-Adha has other popular names across the Muslim world, such as my personal favourite Eid el-Kibir or "The Big Eid" in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Men, women, and children are expected to dress in their finest clothing to perform Eid prayer. Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice their best domestic animals. Oh, joy!

The only reason I know this is because alternate side parking rules are suspended today through Saturday. And for that I say, Happy Idul-Adha, everyone!

Only thing that sucks about Idul-Adha is that most coffee cart guys are on holiday today. My typical $3 Park Avenue breakfast is now a $7.35 Lexington feast.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had lunch in a Druze village last month. They have the world's worst dessert. It's cheese cooked with honey and some nasty orange sauce. Other than that it was great and the chicks dressed kinda slutty. Evs.

Gotham City Insider said...

“Funny, she doesn't look Druish”