Eid

       Eid is an interesting holiday. It is an Islam holiday that consists of killing a lot of cows! It started Monday and lasts like two weeks. There are actually two Eids that the Islam’s celebrate, the Eid that is during this time is known as the Festival of Sacrifices. This is commemorating when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son and then provided a lamb I guess, well that’s what the internet said! But then it also said when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Ishmael, so ajn (ami jonny nah-idk)! Whatever it is for it is a holiday that consists of killing a lot of cows!!

       It may be an Islam celebrated holiday, but Bengali’s are willing to take anyone’s holiday and call it a day off work/school, so Monday was a day off school which was interesting since their school week here starts on Sunday and goes until Thursday.

       To celebrate Eid (I think) we were invited to a native’s house for dinner yesterday, but because of transportation we postponed until today. It was definitely an interesting experience. We were the only guests invited, we went and then sat in the front room but the host was not there, so we didn’t talk to him at all and entertained ourselves for about half hour to forty-five minutes. Then we were called in to the table where the family all stood around and watched us eat. The food was very good; I do think I enjoy Bengali food as long as it’s not too spicy! While it was a little difficult to fully enjoy with the family watching over my shoulder. I am glad I was not on the other side of the table where I would be able to see them watching us eat!

       Since we were having a Bengali meal at a Bengali house, Chantel, Lauren, and I decided to try and be Bengali and eat with our hands. It is definitely an art, although I have to say I think we did pretty well and only got one hand messy! They were prepared for us or something and had tissues on the table that we used to clean our hands between the meal and dessert. The meal consisted of rice (of course!), a dhal or curry (not sure which, it was more curry than dhal though), cucumbers, pomegranates and oranges, some type of squash thing, and these delicious patty things that I don’t know the name of! Dessert was also really good. They had ice cream (which their ice cream here is actually very very good!), a rice custard, and a rice and milk thing, it was all delicious!

       After we were done eating we left. As we were leaving we found out that the family ate after us. This was definitely something we had to experience, although it was a little awkward!