More than 4000 years ago, Ibrahim, an Arab, often slaughtered cattle, sheep and camels to thank God for his gift. One night, Ibrahim dreamed of God, and God ordered him to slaughter his only son Ismail to sacrifice. After waking up, Ibrahim pondered over it.
That night, Ibrahim dreamed of God again, and God continued to order him to slaughter his only son Ismail as a sacrifice. After waking up from a dream, Ibrahim finally realized that it was a revelation from God and decided to kill his son and sacrifice the next day. When Ibrahim and his only son, Ismail, obeyed, God sent the big fairy Bly to the scene with a sheep and ordered Ibrahim to slaughter the sheep instead of offering it to his son. Since then, the ancient Arabs have formed the custom of offering sacrifices every year.
After Muhammad founded Islam, he inherited this custom in Hijiji for two years, and designated the sacrificial day, the origin of Hijiji 65438+February 10, as "Eid al-Adha", which was the last day of pilgrimage. During the festival, every family will slaughter a sheep, or several families will slaughter a cow or camel together.
Eid al-Adha activities
(1) held a ceremony. Muslims gather in big mosques or public places to hold grand ceremonies and celebrations.
Ceremony is one of the core contents of Eid al-Adha. After bathing and changing clothes, Muslims gather in mosques or carefree villages in the city center to hold a grand ceremony, the main content of which is to read the Koran, commemorate the prophet and praise the sages. Muslims all over the world fast for half a day every year on this day and eat after the ceremony.
(2) Three days before Eid al-Adha, every housewife was very busy. They have to make a lot of fried dumplings and various exquisite snacks to prepare enough food for relatives and friends who come home for the holidays and tourists from afar during the festival. Festivals have also become a big show and competition for housewives' cooking skills and housekeeping virtues. The morning service of Eid al-Adha is the biggest service in a year. All the adult men went to the local sacrificial temple to attend the gathering ceremony, and the scene was spectacular. After the ceremony, all families will go to the cemetery to pray, remember and pray for their dead relatives.
(3) Muslims in Xinjiang, China call this festival "Big Del". On this day, Muslims dress up, slaughter animals, invite relatives and friends to be guests, and hold various cultural activities.
Eid al-Adha process
On the morning of the festival, people bathe and dress up and go to the mosque to attend the ceremony. Meet and say "hello" to each other, congratulate on a happy holiday, and "sprinkle your eyes" (shake hands). Both sides hold each other's right heart with their right hand, and then hold each other's right back with their left hand and shake it a few times to show respect. Imams lead people to worship in the direction of Mecca, and believers repent of their mistakes and sins in the past year. After the "Imam" sermon, everyone exchanged "eyes" and ended the ceremony.
On festivals, families usually slaughter a sheep or a cow. Slaughtered livestock meat may not be sold, which can be roughly divided into three purposes: one is personal consumption, the other is giving gifts to relatives and friends and entertaining guests, and the third is giving alms to the poor. Taboos when slaughtering animals; Lambs under two years old and calves under three years old are not slaughtered; Animals that are blind, lame, have their ears cut off and have few tails will not be slaughtered. Relatives and friends visit each other on this day to express their holiday congratulations. Hui people in northwest China are used to entertaining guests with beef and mutton, cakes, oil incense, sugar, fruits and other foods.
Usually when a guest comes in, the host will cover a bowl of tea with three batteries first. "Three batteries" means that a tea set consists of a saucer, a tea bowl and a bowl cover. The host put Yunnan Tuocha or free-range spring tea, rock sugar and longan into a bowl, brewed boiled water face to face, and some even added thousands of grapes and dried apricots. When drinking tea, guests should scrape with the lid of the bowl to drink. Then, the host will serve the guests fruit bowls, usually nine or thirteen plates arranged in a square or diamond shape. There are red dates, black dates, brown sugar, white sugar, walnuts, sand fruits, grapes, dried persimmons, candied fruits, apples, pears, peanuts, dried apricots, dried fruits and fried seeds.
The host invited the elders to "eat" first, and then invited everyone to taste at the same time. Everyone is drinking fragrant tea, chatting while eating and enjoying a happy holiday. In the evening, young men and women lit bonfires and danced and sang happily until midnight. In addition, Eid al-Adha in many Muslim countries is also unique. For example, in Saudi Arabia, many people go to Mecca to celebrate Eid al-Adha and kill animals. After the livestock were slaughtered, they gave the slaughtered cattle, sheep and camels to others as souvenirs.