Monday, September 29, 2008

Eid el Fitr

Ramazan is almost over. That means an end to fasting and abstinence. Cigarettes will be back on the scene, the street food kiosks will be doing brisker business during the day and the bakeries will be opening earlier in the day again. People will be a little less crabby and short-tempered.

Eid el Fitr (Festival of the Fast Breaking) is somewhat like Christmas in that there is feasting, gift-giving and dressing up. It is a three day party. Scenes below are from the busy market. Only two shopping days to Eid! Sort of. The "declaration" of Eid depends upon the sighting of the new moon. That is a call for the mullahs. It's looking like Tuesday or Wednesday will be the call.

We are thinking the government will call it for Tuesday because then instead of a three-day holiday, it is a four-day holiday since Friday would be the day off anyway. These people could use a four-day holiday.

An old "Back to School" mural on the road entering the market.
The top row of the blackboard, read right to left is "alef", "beh", "peh" the first three letters of the Dari alphabet.
The bottom row is 1 + 1 = 2 (Even if Afghanistan).



Eid shoppers.
Note the Eid dresses in the background.
The children usually get bright new clothes for Eid.



More Eid dresses.



Still more Eid dresses.



And more Eid dresses!



Sugar drink anyone? Made with fresh sugar cane!
Afghans may not recycle the way we know it,
but they definitely reuse.
Nothing useful gets thrown out.



Shopping for the Eid gifts.
Two shoppings days left!



Potatoes for the feast.



Mutant Cauliflower for the feast!



Fruit market doing brisk business.



This doesn't look good Bob!
Note the three calf heads and pile of legs.



Butcher shop lane fully stocked to provide for the feast.
Out of the picture to the left a pile of goats
and four more calves were being prepped for hanging.



13 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

always interesting to see how a different culture handles commerce. Those hanging carcasses. Wow. I hope they'll keep.

Travis Erwin said...

Least there is meat.

Lyzzydee said...

I love reading your blog and the photos are fantastic.
Thank You

ssas said...

How cool. It all has an eerie familiarity to the US's big holiday season.

debra said...

I always find it interesting to have a look at other cultures. The contrasts are so interesting.

The Anti-Wife said...

Very interesting pictures.

Vodka Mom said...

that was a fabulous tour. I love seeing all of the color!

thanks

d.

Barrie said...

Very interesting. So glad to have you as a part of My Town Mondays!

Barbara Martin said...

Interesting photos of the customs. The meat hanging serves its purpose of adhering to their meat customs, and I presume all the carcasses would have been sold before they ripen too much.

J. L. Krueger said...

Charles,

The carcasses usually are only up for the day. Most are gone by the time the shops close. As long as you cook it through, it's fine.

Travis,

Yup and it's good too!

lyzzydee,

Thanks.

Sex,

Yep, sure does. These past few days have seen a lot more smiling faces as people eat, smoke and party.

Debra,

It is definitely different here.

anti-wife,

Thanks.

vodka mom,

I love this town.

Barrie,

Thanks. It was a great idea Travis had.

Barbara,

As I said to Charles, most is gone before the shops close. The butchers also leave "leftovers" out for the dogs that they otherwise do not keep. You've never seen so many well-fed stray dogs as you see in Kabul.

The Muse said...

Hello J.L!

Oh what I could do with that Cauliflower! Yum!

Those little outfits are really bold--I like the little orange set with the pants.

I love learning everything you are teaching us.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Take care!

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