Whenever these wooden lamb displays appear on the streets of Aqaba, they mark the coming of the main muslim holidays: Eid Al Fitr or Eid Al Adha, also known as the Eid Al Kabeer or "The Big Feast".

It is actually very bad news for poor lamb...

Eid Al Adha means The Festival of Sacrifice when Muslims commemorate the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice everything for Allah (God) including his beloved son, Ismael (Isaac).

As Ibrahim was about to kill Ismael, Allah intervened and gave Ibrahim a lamb to be the sacrifice instead of his son.

Since Allah gave Prophet Ibrahim a lamb to sacrifice instead of sacrificing his son, Muslims also offer the sacrifice of animals, most often lamb but also goats, camels or cow - what they have or what they can afford to buy.

By the way, that display on the picture is an advertisement offering lamb for sale at JD 99.

People share the meat with family and friends, as well as the poorer members of the community.

When is Eid Al Adha?

Since the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar (with 365-366 days in a year) and the Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar (with 354-355 days in a year), the date of Eid Al Adha and all other islamic special days move in the Gregorian calendar approximately 10 days every year.

Shall I come to Aqaba during Eid?

Being Jordan's only seaside resort, Aqaba is usually jam-packed with local tourists (ie. people living in the North of the country) during Eid times which are also school holidays.

That means all the hotels are fully booked, rental apartments ditto, the public beaches are crowded and there are regular traffic jams in the downtown.

Goverment offices (ASEZA, for example), banks and the post office are closed for a couple of days, too.

Should you decide to come and share the joy of Eid with the Jordanians, be prepared for the above mentioned inconveniences and make your hotel reservation well in advance.

Related Posts, Websites

• Muslim Holidays
• Public Holidays in Jordan
• Eid Al Fitr (End of Ramadan)