How do you observe/celebrate Eid al Adha?

[Mayrigah]

How do you observe / celebrate Eid al Adha? This will be our first together, but it is also the last day I can deliver our first baby w/o my doc-midwife planning to induce me ( was due 11/13) .

Funny that; my dh he was born a few days before Eid al Adha as was his Ummi and a few family members back in Iraq.

[AutumnSunshine]

I think this is an emerging area of American Muslim culture so I think you'll see a lot of variables here. We put up lights around the house (like Christmas lights). I wake the kids up by blasting Dawud Wharnsby's "Days of Eid" song on repeat (annoying and endearing all at the same time LOL). We eat a high-protein breakfast (as we anticipate lots of sugar loading at the mosque) the girls put on their fancy dresses and we go to the prayer. We stay after the prayer for donuts and coffee, the kids get candy bags which they promptly bust into :LOL and they participate in whatever games are set up for the kids. Then we go home and around Noon my family (not Muslim) comes over and we give them presents and they get to open them (again, kind of Christmas-like). In the late afternoon we try to have a nice dinner (again, grafted from Christmas) but I'm usually too exhausted (I'm not the supermom cooking type) so we will either order pizza, my husband will do a grilling fest, or my mom will make dinner.

Traditionally, Eid al-Adha lasts 5 days but I have noticed that American Eids last a week or longer, since people still have to work during that time period, "Eid" often lasts as long as it takes to get one or even two weekends of "Eid activities" in.

[Summertime Mommy]

We hhave never celebrated as a family, but this year we will get up and go to the masjd for prayer and breakfast. I am kind of dissapointed because there is going to be a big Eid celebration at Islands of Adventure here in FL, so all other Eid activities at our masjid have been cancelled because of this. I like the ideas Umm Zaynab talks about, I may borrow a few from her.

[1jooj]

We don't decorate. It's never been something I've enjoyed doing, even back in my days of Jahilya , and dh's family doesn't, so we haven't got there. But I hope to mix up a big batch of henna and slop some on everyone the night before, from dh to our livestock.

We wake up the kids and eat breakfast. I think it may be Sunnah to fast until Eid prayers, but we don't do this. We have a nice breakfast at home and the kids open gifts (which we keep very modest). Then, everyone meets for Eid prayers...and this is the awesome part. The Muslim community here rents a rollerskating rink to accommodate the crowd. So we bring potluck dishes there, have Takbir, prayer and khutba, then eat and visit, and they start the fog machine and the kids skate. They fire up the slushy maker and cotton candy machine, too. It's pretty crazy. I always marvel at the scene--reminds me of a weird documentary. People from countless countries, many in their traditional fancy best dress, having a potluck on roller skates.

Then, we head back home, change our clothes and dh slaughters our lamb. We divide it for distributing (1/3 to loved ones, 1/3 to the poor). Usually, friends come over, and we have tea and grill lamb liver and some meat and eat a fairly light meal and usually a lot of sweets, which friends inevitably bring along. The kids play, we visit, and we all go to bed tired. We're farmers, so we have chores built into the morning and evening.

This year, the second day of Eid, dh will help others with their slaughtering obligation. Many families still prefer to slaughter for Eid, and we surely have families who can benefit from the meat. So, a lot of the men take care of that. I will be doing something special with my kids while dh spends the day doing this. When he gets home, we'll head to another friend's for a celebration.

In addition, the two local mosques usually have an evening Eid dinner, one for each congregation, and many families attend both (they hold them on different evenings to make this possible). Plenty of opportunities to wear one's finest, visit and eat a lot.