So we are starting the Hajj holiday here in Saudi. For us, it means a week or so off, but I had to do some research to find out what exactly what Hajj is.
The Hajj (Arabic: حج Ḥaǧǧ "pilgrimage") is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and the largest gathering of Muslim people in the world every year. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, and a religious duty which must be carried out by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so at least once in his or her lifetime. The state of being physically and financially capable of performing the Hajj is called istita'ah and a Muslim who fulfils this condition is called a mustati. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God (Allah in the Arabic language). The word Hajj means “to intend a journey,” which connotes both the outward act of a journey and the inward act of intentions.
We live in the province of Medina, so it gets very busy this time of year in our area with pilgrims traveling from Jeddah to Mecca and Medina (the two holy cities in Saudi).
The Hajj is associated with the life of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad from the 7th century, but the ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca is considered by Muslims to stretch back thousands of years to the time of Abraham (Ibrahim). Pilgrims join processions of hundreds of thousands of people, who simultaneously converge on Mecca for the week of the Hajj, and perform a series of rituals: Each person walks counter-clockwise seven times around the Ka'aba, the cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of prayer, runs back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinks from the Zamzam Well, goes to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, and throws stones in a ritual Stoning of the Devil. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate the three day global festival of Eid al-Adha.
Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى ʿīd al-aḍḥā, "festival of the sacrifice"), also called Feast of the Sacrifice, is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honor the willingness of the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his young first-born son Ismail (Ishmael)a as an act of submission to God's command and his son's acceptance to being sacrificed, before God intervened to provide Abraham with a Lamb to sacrifice.
This is one of the two large holidays in Saudi, with Ramadan being the first. Traditionally many expats leave and go out of the country on vacation during this time as all schools and many businesses are closed. We decided to stay in country this year since we just unpacked our suitcases from our last trip and will be leaving again in December for Christmas and New Years. I’m actually looking forward to a little down time and spending some time with Abby. We have a beach trip planned and some shopping, sleeping in and relaxing at home – just enjoying the break!