Eid al-Adha (Bahasa Indonesia: Idul Adha) is the biggest celebration for Muslim in all over the world after Eid al-Fitr (Bahasa Indonesia; Idul Fitri). It occurs in every Dzulhijjah 10, the month and date in Islamic lunar calendar. Indonesia, as the most populated Muslim country, of course rejoices it with both spiritual and festive spirit. Most Indonesian Muslims celebrate it in the neighborhood: preparing the meat and cooking together with neighbors. So basically, people can say that in Eid al-Fitr, they will be busy cooking with family and in Eid al-Adha, they will be busy cooking with neighbors.
Then what is Eid al-Adha? For some people who do not have basic knowledge about spiritual and cultural life of Islam may think that it is mere slaughtering activity toward cow, goat, sheep, or buffalo. But for Muslims, it has very deep meaning. Eid al-Adha comes from the story of Abraham (Bahasa Indonesia: Ibrahim). Abraham was challenged to prove his love to God. God asked whether he was dare to slaughter his son for showing that his love to God is more than anything else in the world. With his holy mind and heart, he finally prepared to did it. In fact, God did not need offering from Abraham. God just challenged Abraham's compassion to God that could be wonderful preaching for the people in all years. When Abraham was ready to slaughter his son, Ismail, God replaced his son with the sheep. From that moment on, that story has given meaningful message for Muslims. Once a year, if they are financially capable, Muslims buy and slaughter those animals. It has symbolic meaning to purify the wealth, to remind that wealth is not everything in this world, to learn to be sincere to sacrifice in the name of God, and to have awareness to shares for the needy. In the process of slaughtering, Muslims always try to not hurt or torture the animals. They must only choose the healthy male animals without any physical disability, use very sharp knife, and do it precisely and quickly.
This year celebration, I was so happy because I could celebrate not only with my family, neighbors, and Indonesian friends but also with my overseas friends from Myanmar, Afghanistan, Romania, and United States of America (USA) in my neighborhood. We enjoyed the time together observing and experiencing Eid al-Adha with nice religious and cultural discussion. [caption id="attachment_178981" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Zin and Thida from Myanmar"]
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[/caption][caption id="attachment_178982" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Omid from Afghanistan and Zin from Myanmar"]
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[/caption] [caption id="attachment_566" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Ibu-ibu (the Mothers) cooked a night before celebration"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_565" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Kids did takbiran"]
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November 5, 2011/ Dzulhijjah 10, 1432:
After the sunset, for Islamic lunar calendar, it means Muslim have already had a new day. The sunset is accompanied by the sound from the mosque named adzan to call people to do Maghrib prayer. Around 6 pm, in November 5, 2011 Muslim had entered Dzulhijjah 10. It had the meaning that they alredy started Eid al-Adha time. People began to do takbiran, reciting certain Arabic sentences to praise the greatness of God. After Maghrib prayer, continued by Isha prayer at 7 pm, people especially kids had been ready in front of Al Hijrah mosque, the mosque near my home. My friends Thida from Myanmar, Zin from Myanmar, and Omid from Afghanistan were already there to see and join those kids' activities. The kids would do takbiran by walking around the neighborhood by bring torch with fire from bamboo. So people can say that kids activity is the combination between the culture of Islam and Javanese culture with its bamboo torch ornament. We walked with the kids for some kilometers. It was nice to feel the spirit and enthusiasm of those kids. It became nicer when we met other kids from different takbiran group from other neighborhoods. With other kids from different neighborhoods, we felt like sharing the same atmosphere together though personally we did not know each other. Thida, Zin, and Omid really enjoyed to be together with the kids. No wonder, it is because Thida and Zin are teachers in Indonesian International School in Myanmar and for Omid, he said that he loves to have kids so it is interesting to see them. We finished doing takbiran with kids around 8 pm. We were so satisfied. After some discussions, they left my home at 9.30 pm. [caption id="attachment_567" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Horia from Romania, Matt from USA, me, and my brother Tio"] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_568" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Cow, are you ready? "] [/caption]
[caption id="attachment_178983" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Finally....."]
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[/caption]November 6, 2011/ Dzulhijjah 10, 1432
At 5 am, my friend Horia from Romania and Matt from USA had been ready at my home. Both of them, as I see, have very high sense of cross cultural understanding and travelling as well. So I felt so great to welcome them to join Eid al-Adha main celebration. After enjoying some coffee and tea, at 6 am, we went together with my family to Al Hijrah mosque to do Eid al-Adha special prayer. While waiting the prayer started, I explained to them a little about the philosophical meaning of that celebration. When I did praying, they patiently waited outside the mosque. The prayer itself was continued by sermon by an imam (Islamic leader or respected person in neighborhood) to remind the story and the real meaning of Eid al-Adha. [caption id="attachment_570" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Peeling the goats"] [/caption]