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Breakfast is taken only after the Eid prayer, and again ‘sheer korma’, the traditional delicacy, is served. Then the sacrifice starts. A sheep is
slaughtered on that day to commemorate Abraham’s sacrifice. In Mauritius, goats, sheep and cattle are sacrificed, but as beef is the most popular meat, cattle are immolated in a greater number. Seven persons often
pool together .to buy one head. The meat is then distributed to the poor, to friends, to relatives and to charitable institutions. In principle the meat has to be divided equally into three parts: one part goes to
the family of the person effecting the sacrifice, the second part is shared among neighbours and friends and the third part is shared among the poor. People often save during a whole year to be able to afford the
price of a sheep or a share in a bull for slaughter.
The happy greetings and well-wishing of Eid-AlAdha are therefore accompanied with a token of meat given and received in a mood of friendly brotherhood. In
days gone by it was customary for wealthy Muslim merchants of Port-Louis to invite after the ‘Eid’ prayers ‘hundreds of Muslims from all parts of the Island and to treat them to a ‘square meal’ in the large spacious
buildings of the Arabian Docks and at the ‘Taher Bagh’. The merchants used to show great solicitude for their guests, they attended personally to their needs and endeavoured to create ‘an atmosphere of equality and
cheerfulness demonstrating the true brotherhood of Islam’
By the end of the day, every Muslim house is again bathed in an aroma of lip-smacking and finger-licking goodness as not even the poorest will forgo the
traditional meat ‘Biryani’ or meat ‘Kalia”’.
These rituals ‘not only have the force of social sanction but they have equally important consequences for the maintenance of the values that form the basis
of the Muslim community in Mauritius as well as in Muslim communities in many parts of the world. Thus family life, one’s relationship with Cod, relationship among Muslims, and communal identity are all integral to
the observance of the rituals relating to the festivals discussed’
Muslim festivals call for a great measure of community participation and, unlike Chinese and Hindu observances, they are much more uniform. They involve
common participation at the mosque and other obligatory ritual observances (e.g. fasting, payment of the tithe and prayers at the mosque or at home). This adherence to a uniform set of ritual requirements binds all
Muslims into a tight religious community. Those who fail to conform to the ritual demands are in a sense regarded as non-practising Muslims. There is, therefore, strong family and community pressure on every Muslim
to meet the ritual requirements stipulate
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