When Worlds Collide

I still maintain, “you get Christmas and Thanksgiving, and I get starving ourselves and sacrificing a ram?” The thing is as our marriage goes on these become OUR holidays and not the one sitting in on the others. Then I woke up this morning with a sign on the fridge from my husband, letting me know this is my holiday too. This Tabaski truly solidifies this for me. The clarity is I come from two different worlds. The “West” and all that comes with that, and the world where I am proud to be part my Arabic family. As we continue to navigate these two worlds as one in a respectful loving marriage, I am proud. I am a westerner and my worlds continue to collide and intertwine as I try to navigate it with love, chaos, confusion and an appreciation for people that were so foreign to me and experiences, holidays and deep connections I never knew I could have. Tabaski is celebrated throughout the Muslim world, mostly referred to as Eid. In Niger, we call it Tabaski.It follows the book of Abraham and a Ram, ideally is sacrificed. Food is spread to friends, family and those in need. The animal is killed humanely and honored in every way possible. People may sacrifice goat, cow, camel, whichever they can afford, but ideally it is a Ram. The capacity for people to come together and share such a beautiful holiday which makes most of us in the west squeamish. Unless you hunt or grew up on a farm! I would never have made the connection between 9/11 and Tabaski but the holiday falls by the moon and this year it was the same day. It really got me thinking. Reflecting. The “East” and the “West” exist in two different worlds and when they collide it is rarely positive. Our worlds need to collide for the better. Our friends who come to see our traditions and learn. Those who read up and learn about the Quran and what Islam truly is. Those who seek out knowledge and understand that ignorance is weakness and that we are kept separated through ignorance and lack of understanding, perpetuating fear. Today my husband teased me, the arabic women hose down the blood afterward. I teased him back, picked up that hose and got to it. There’s no turning back. I  took the ram by the legs and made this my holiday too. I can’t help but wonder if more of us had the opportunity to see and do these things, instead of having such a slight understanding from afar if this world just might be a better place after all. Eid Mubarak, and a happy and peaceful holiday to ALL Muslims around the world!