This week I experienced my first Eid al-Adha here in Morocco. What is Eid al-adha you may ask? Gather round and I shall explain. The holiday honors the prophet Ibrahim (known in the Christian Old Testament as Abraham) who offers to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God but before Ibrahim can carry out this act,  Allah produces a lamb for him to sacrifice instead. The multi day event therefore involves families sacrificing the best animals they have or can afford to buy, but usually a goat, sheep, or ram depending on the region. They will divide the meat into 3 equal parts- for their family, for relatives/friends, and for the poor in the community. Thus Eid al-adha or the big Eid is known as the Feast of the Sacrifice. 

On the first morning of Eid there will be important morning prayers after which the animals will be sacrificed. Family members will take on certain tasks in the process. Typically organ meats are grilled and used faster as they also spoil faster. A huge part is that nothing goes to waste and every part of the animal is used up. 

For me and another volunteer visiting we started our morning around 10 am at my host family’s house for the first breakfast. This was the beautiful and delicious Moroccan style breakfast for holidays. It consisted of bghrir, pancakes, bread with various dipping sauces and of course tea. 

We spent several hours watching the process of the family cleaning and preparing the various types of organs and meat from the goats.

Then second breakfast was ready (just like a hobbit). This was Boulfaf or lamb liver wrapped in fat and grilled which was surprisingly delicious and seasoned very well. The rest of the afternoon was a time for visiting family and lots of together time.

Eventually, around 4:30 pm we had lunch. This was a Tkelia, a stew of liver, hearts, guts and lungs that was cooked until tender with tons of seasoning and served with bread to dip in. Along with the traditional fruit platter for dessert. This was an interesting experience, though different than expected I do have to say everything was seasoned amazingly. We ended the day with more tea. Later in the evening the family continues the celebration with visiting the local park here and wandering in and out of neighborhood homes with family and friends.

The festivities continue through the second and third day but involve more of the savory meals from the lamb or goat. In my village there is also at least one wedding going on as well which adds to the merriment and excitement of the community. The days can be very long, especially with so many people to host or homes to visit, so as a PCV you got to pace yourself and in my opinion try all the dishes at least once!