Marrakech

I'm off to Marrakech next week for work. I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to be doing while I'm there (I was going to chat about it with Alberto but he ran out of time before leaving for Bali yesterday and this is just one of the things left incomplete.....) but I will definitely spend a bit of time seeing how things are run at the riad and see where and how I can make improvements.

I arrive on Monday and Tuesday is Eid-al-Adha. Although we celebrate this as a family in London, this will be the first time that I'm experiencing eid in an Islamic country. I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens. I didn't know for sure the significance of this religious festival so a few minutes on google pointed me in the right direction. Eid-al-Adha is also known as the Festival of Sacrifice and commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son for Allah. Just as he is about to sacrifice his beloved son, he is stopped and a lamb or goat is sacrificed instead. Each family sacrifices a lamb/goat and the meat is split into three - one part for the poor, one part for neighbours and relatives and the final part to be eaten at home. Eid-al-Adha occurs on the day after Hajj pilgriims descend from Mount Arafat.

I think it's going to be quite an experience being in Marrakech for Eid. I've been told that the day before, everywhere you look there are men taking their lambs or goats home. You can even go and buy your beast in the local supermarket. It reminds me a bit of when we first went to Pakistan when I was about 4 or 5. As Muslim children, you also have a goat slaughtered in your name (or something like that, I'm not sure what exactly this is about and whether it's religious or cultural). Anyway, three goats were brought to my uncle's house where we were staying for me and my two sisters. Being an animal lover, I got very attached to my goat who if I remember correctly had a pink tuft on his forehead (probably dyed). Imagine my horror when I then saw my pet goat slaughtered in front of me! Funny thing is, I don't remember crying about it which is strange because a few years later when I watched the film "Ring of Bright Waters" in which an otter gets killed (and you don't see it getting killed, you just know it has), I was inconsolable and cried all night. Watching my pet goat get killed also didn't turn me into a vegetarian but maybe I didn't put two and two together, working that what I ate later was probably my pet.....

Anyway, I'm going to be blogging from Marrakech, complete with pictures. This will be the first time I go anywhere truly exotic in six years so looking forward to being immersed in a throughly different culture for a little while. I guess I'll be doing some work too. One thing I definitely want to do is try out a hammam (a bit like a Turkish bath). We've got a private hammam at the riad so I'm going to check that out and get a massage as well. You have to sample the goods before you can try and sell them to others!