After Eid ul Fitar, Eid al-Adha is another Islamic festival that commemorates the enthusiasm of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham) who was ready to follow Allah’s (God’s) command by sacrificing his son in the path of Allah. Allah (SWT) was greatly pleased with him that Allah ordered to make this sacrifice as an eternal part of a Muslim’s life. Muslims observe the Eid-ul-Adha in remembrance of this grand sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (AS).
This sacrifice is highlighted in Al Qur’an as:
“Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you. Thus have We subjected them to you that you may glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you, and give good tidings to the doers of good.” (Surah Hajj:37)
However, every country celebrates this event differently as per their cultural aspects. Eastern and western culture differs widely. Thus the reflection of this distinction comes in the celebration of all the festivals.
The tradition of sacrifice in Pakistan and celebrations
Apart from other countries, Pakistan is the country known to celebrate every festival either big or small. Under these festivals, Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha are prominent festivals that carry diversified colors in the celebrations. The tradition of sacrifice in Pakistan is the name of glory, merriment, and the festivity with scrumptious and delicious food.
Purchasing and Petting of Animals
In the West, people prefer to buy an animal and make their arrangements in slaughterhouses. Either it is taking care of animals or slaughtering them, people do all the stuff away from the houses.
But in Pakistan, when Eid-ul-Adha draws near, people approach to the cattle market to buy the sacrificial animal at satisfactory prices. In a country like Pakistan, people are dearly excited about the tradition of sacrifice. Here they want children and family to spend some time with their animals and take care of them. They take all the things in their consideration. Either it is the purchasing of animals, petting them, or slaughtering them, people do all stuff on their own. But every year, the soar prices of those sacrificial animals distress the buyers. This makes it difficult to choose the desired sacrificial animal.
Preparations for slaughter
Doing the slaughter at home is a bit difficult as trained butchers are hard to find at the time of the festival. There come many amateurs and untrained butchers who approach to different parties and agree to do slaughtering for less money. It ends up damaging the animals’ skin and meat.
In the peak season of the Eid festival, laborers come from different village areas. They find their way to urban areas to mint extra money by doing the slaughter of sacrificial animals. Undoubtedly, they increase the charges for slaughtering animals as well. Currently, they are charging PKR 4500-6000 to slaughter a goat or sheep and PKR15, 000-18,000 for a bull or calf, while PKR 18,000- 22,000 for a camel.
Preparations for meals
Along with the slaughtering stuff, people started to incline towards the meal preparations especially the BBQ, liver masala, biryani and so on. From the first day of Eid to several weeks onwards, they catch up with friends and family to enjoy the delicious meat meals.
Pakistan celebrates the Eid-ul-Adha with the religious fervor and zeal highlighting the sense of generosity and gratitude colors. From shopping of sacrificial animals to choosing clothes and preparing of meals, all the stuff is enclosed with a bunch of excitements.
Have you ever celebrated this festival in Pakistan? Let us know how was the experience?
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