That Time of Year Again - L'Eid

It is L'Eid Kabir again.  Every year it moves up about two weeks as it is based on the Muslim Calander.  Over the years Eid will be in every month same as Ramadan.
This morning the chanting, singing and praying began in the morning.  I think they recite the Koran.  At about 9:00 the mosque let out and people began the ritual sheep slaughter.  I drank coffee on my room and was able to witness four sheep in the street and two on the rooftops of neighboring houses.  This guy was BBAAAAAing in the morning to other sheep round the neighborhood.

You could get your sheep this past weekend at the Eid sheep market.  It was like shopping for a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.  There were lots of people last minute shopping.  The streets last night were filled with shoppers getting cookies, and fixings for the feast today.

People visit all their family today and everyone who can afford it kills two sheep, one for the family and one for the poor.  That is a lot of meat to eat in the next couple days.

Everyone watches the sacrifice women, children, men, friends.  It is a happy time and the biggest holiday of the year.  Gifts are not exchanged.
 
This is my second one and I will be here for the one next year also which will be the end of October.
Time to eat. 

It has been raining for a few days and snowing in the mountains.  Time to hunker down for the winter and start up my Buta gas heater.  I would hibernate if I could.

Halloween in Morocco

Morocco does not celebrate Halloween, no carved pumpkins, no pumpkin pie, no trick or treaters, no free candy for the kids. 
The after school youth facility (dar chabab) where two of the Peace Corps youth Development volunteers works put on a Halloween party for the youth ages +10-16.  They have been doing this for 4 years so the children kind of know what to expect. 
This year numerous PC volunteers from the surrounding towns came to help put on the event in conjunction with the Moroccan staff at the dar chabab.  There were games, events, a play and finally a haunted house after the sun went down, about 6:00 PM.
I worked on the apple bobbing station then in the haunted house.  About 40 students came and seemed to enjoy everything except maybe getting scared in the haunted house. 

The facility was decorated with carved pumpkins, a cemetery, paper pumpkins-witches and assorted decorations.  Not sure what the kids thought about the concept, but they sure laughed a lot.
In the Apple Bobbing there were some real go getters that almost submerged their whole head to get the apple.  Everyone got a piece of candy for participating. 

After getting their heads dried off it was off to the bobbing for candy in a plate of powdered sugar.
The girl (witch) in charge of this station was the volunteer from Japan.  These volunteers also serve two years, like the Peace Corps.  Her costume was great.

Off to the bean bag toss and the balloon stomp.  The kids trying to break the others balloon by stepping on them was like watching some chickens dance.  The participants had a great time and the spectators cheered and laughed.

The Haunter House - outside one of the adults told a scary story, then the children crawled under a table with a blanket over it, into the room, with a PCV banging on the table from above.  As they emerged they saw a sheet where someone jumped out and scarred then.  They would jump back and meet the headless corpse laying on the floor in a sleeping bag who sat up and growled (that would be me).  Moving on PCV would jump out of a box, growl from underneath tables and flash a light on their face.  In the dark room lit by candle light it could be quite scary.  Many of the kids did not make it past the headless corpse before screaming, crying and crawling back out of the room.  Great fun, but may have been a little much for some of the little ones. 

The nights last event was the costume contest.  the kids would clap for the costume they liked the most.  The winner had a store bought mast, but I liked the hand made ones better.  The next day I saw a couple kids still wearing there masks.

Afterwards there was cookies and lemonade for everyone and the scary part was quickly forgotten.
There was a dinner for the people that put on the show at the Japanese volunteers house.  The fried rice was awesome.  We had spaghetti, cookies, cream of chicken soup, spring rolls and green tea.  A good ending to the event.  Guess I will be back to do it again next year.