Eid Al-Adha

One of the inquiry themes for the Year 1 students at AISB is Celebrations. Instead of taking 6-8 weeks to learn about different world/religion/family traditions in isolation, we take them as we come and make it an integrated part of our year.  At Meet the Teacher Night, I encouraged parents to let me know when their families would be celebrating different holidays or events. Today was the first day someone has taken me up on it.

Today was the Muslim Holy Day, Eid-Al-Adha. One of my Muslim student's mom thought it was important for her daughter to understand about the day in her own setting. The giving of gifts is very common as part of this celebration as well as a shared meal so, we had a special Eid-Al-Adha cake for lunch. It was a teachable moment for me for a few reasons: 1) I was able to explain that it was not a birthday cake, but a cake to celebrate an important day. 2) Celebrating Eid-Al-Adha fit right into our week's theme of studying Egypt, where today is a national holiday. 

 My student was quite proud to share about the day and I think her mom deserves credit for helping her celebrate at school. 

Our Cake
Eid Mubarak is the traditional greeting for today. It translates as, "Have a blessed Eid"

Here is a good article I found that helps explain how this day is celebrated and why. Link

However, the celebration did not stop there. At the end of the day I was brought a special treat of Beef Curry for Greg and I to have for dinner. She explained that this would be on the table for their big celebration tonight with friends. She also explained that in Muslim areas that there is no beef, camel meat is a good substitution. Can't say I've had Camel Curry before. I confirmed this was beef.

Greg and I served it on top of rice, along side string beans with bacon and street food sweet corn. It was amazing! I'm hoping that the mom bought it from a local restaurant (as opposed to making it homemade) because Greg and I would love to have it again.

To any Muslims reading this blog, Eid Mubarak.