Celebration Of Aidil Adha

On Friday, Muslims celebrated the Aidil Adha, and for us that meant a long weekend and we headed off to my hometown to celebrate the Big Day.

What is Aidil Adha? It is one of the biggest and most important events in the annual Muslim calendar; celebrated on the 10th day of the Muslim month Zulhijjah. Every year millions of  pilgrims in the holy city of Mecca perform the fifth pillar of Islam, that is the haj and Aidil Adha marks the end of the haj pilgrimage period. During Aidil Adha, a ritual known as korban or sacrifice is carried out after the Aidiladha prayer. Hence Aidil Adha is also commonly known as Hari Raya Korban or Hari Raya Haji in Malaysia.

This year, my parents decided to do korban. Korban means sacrifice of animals such as cows, goats and camels that meet certain religious criteria. We had a small kenduri (feast) afterwards, after the Isyak prayer.

In the photo above, the cow that was slaughtered earlier being prepared to be cut and distributed.  One third of the meat is given to the individual who made the sacrifice, while the rest is given to the poor and deserving people in the community.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha.