Eid al Adha in Morocco

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

MOROCCO | Wednesday, 12 December 2012 | Views [360] | View Larger Image

My host mother grills pieces of ram heart on charcoal coals for the Eid lunch that sits on the table. Eid al Adha is a holiday to celebrate life and community. Dates, olives, "zouloot" (spicy eggplant tomato dip), and the essential pot of sweet Moroccan mint tea sit on the tray.

During the day of the Eid, neighborhood boys congregate in the streets of the medina (old city) to roast ram heads on bonfires built out of bed frames and wooden crates. This street, usually crowded with goods and shoppers, becomes an apocalyptic landscape. Smoke rises from bonfires on the unnaturally empty and boarded up street, while gangs of teenage boys compare the size of their ram’s horns and poke at the heads roasting in the fire. This boy inspects his charred ram head, perhaps imagining the taste of the brains that will show up in the couscous the next day.

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Eid al Adha in Morocco

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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