Holidays Are Here!!

Today marks the beginning of the Eed. The 3 day or so holiday to mark the end of ramadan (PTL it's over!!!). It's another one of those 'we don't know until the night before if tomorrow is a holiday or not' kind of things. I was out about 8pm and people still didn't know so when I went to bed I hadn't heard if today was the holiday or not. At 6 am this morning, I figured out that it was.

How, you might ask, did I know? Well, the mosques, every single mosque around, went off for an hour straight (by went off, I mean some guy came over the loudspeaker and yelled all sorts of things). Then there were the constant firecrackers from the neighborhood kids and the loud cheering from everyone around. I don't know if any of y'all have ever heard the high pitched, African 'ulululululul' sound but all the women were doing it. While I am very excited that ramadan is over, I was not excited between 6 and 7 this morning as I laid in bed, wondering if the celebration would ever end.

It finally did, probably because they all had to go make breakfast now that they can eat during the daylight. Firecrackers have been going off all day and there is nobody out, including me. I stayed at home and did absolutely nothing today...what better way to celebrate a holiday that I would rather not observe!!

No one is really sure when the Eed will be over. Around here holidays tend to drag on. Remember last January when the entire month was just one big holiday?!? Since it started today and is technically 3 days long Sunday should be the last day. I've heard from local friends that things might pick back up Monday, maybe Tuesday but definitely by Wednesday...insha'allah. Not a bad deal for people who are getting out of work...not so great for people who are planning to leave the country in 2 weeks and still don't have a visa in spite of 2 months of waiting for one.