I spent my Eid with a Saudi family. I am going to post a ton of photos from it here in a bit, but before I do that I am going to tell you about Eid and what it is. I know most of my followers are non-muslims from back home, so they probably don’t understand what the holiday is about.

For starters, Eid is an Islamic holiday. We celebrate Eid twice a year, Eid-al-Fitr after Ramadan, and Eid-al-Adha was the one we celebrated a few days ago, which commemorates the completion of Hajj. Today we will focus on Eid-al-Adha.

Eid-al-Adha commemorates Ibrahim’s (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son to God.That’s right, the Quran talks about the Abraham, just like the Bible! Many Christians who haven’t studied Islam are surprised to find how many parallels exist between the two religions. During this Eid families purchase and slaughter an animal as an offering to God to remember Abraham’s trials. The immediate family eats 1/3 of the meat, gives 1/3 to friends, and gives 1/3 to the poor. Family and friends visit each other and sometimes exchange gifts. It is really a wonderful and fun time, and I am excited to share the photos with you.