Happy Bakr Id!!!

Happy New Year and to our Muslim friends, Happy Id-ul-Zuha (aka Bakr Id)! I hope that everyone enjoyed the exit of 2006 and welcomed 2007 with zeal. In India, the new year is celebrated, but is not observed as a national holiday (bummer). However, this year, New Year's Day happened to coincide with Bakr Id, the Muslim festival of sacrifice.



Bakr Id commemorates the sacrifice of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham of the Old Testament), who agreed to sacrifice his only son, Ismael (Issac), at the behest of Allah. As you may or may not remember from Sunday School, an angel appeared just in the nick of time to spare Ismael from this act of paternal filicide by pointing out that there was a ram caught in some nearby bushes that might be sacrificed in place of Ibrahim's own flesh and blood (Hey, who says that the God of the Old Testament is full of wrath, the kid survived right? How many years of therapy do you think he needed after that though? It probably took some time before he was willing to take another walk with dear old dad.) The traditional way of celebrating Bakr Id is to sacrifice a bakr (sheep) in remembrance of the readiness of Ibrahim to sacrifice Ismael, and then the meat is distributed after the Id prayers at the mosque. Gifts and greetings are also exchanged and a feast is typical. This festival also coincides with the end of the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.



I celebrated the New Year and Bakr Id (though at the time I didn't know that it was Bakr Id) by.... going to work. I am very fortunate that the NCBS provides free shuttle service from a main road near our house (about 2 km away), but it has 2 schedules; one for weekdays and one for Sunday and holidays (the schedule starts later on holidays). Since I had been informed that New Year's Day is not a holiday, I was up bright and early waiting for my bus on Monday, and I continued to wait for my bus for an hour and a half until it finally showed up (by which time I had figured that it must be a holiday after all). As it turned out, this year the two holidays fell on same day and so I ended up celebrating both waiting for a bus.



To avoid this predicament in the future, I asked for a list of Indian holidays and found that there are 18 nationally observed days (compared to 10 federally observed US holidays, not including Inauguration Day, which I didn't even know WAS a holiday. Who the hell celebrates Inauguration Day except for the one white guy who bought his way into the presidency anyway???) Jealous? Just another one of the benefits in living in a country where religious tolerance is really practiced. I mean, in the US we claim to be so accommodating of other cultures and religions, but here they put their money where their mouth is. Over 80% of Indians are Hindu, 13% are Muslim, and a whopping 2% are Christian. Regardless, the Indian government observes MORE Christian holidays than the US (Christmas and Good Friday)! Conversely, the US celebrates NO holiday from any other religion, despite having comparable numbers of Christians to Hindus in India and Jews to Indian Christians. Okay, I know what you are thinking, "In the United States there is such a thing as separation of church and state, that is why we don't celebrate religious holidays (ummmm, except Christmas)." My response is "Well, sort of, on paper at least (that paper being the Constitution, First Amendment)." The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment state "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." AKA: Separation of Church and State. Do I think that the separation of church and state is important? Absolutely. Do I think that separation of church and state is practiced? Not really. My evidence:

1) Christmas is a federal holiday while no other religion's festivals have that same status.

2) In God we trust, sound familiar?

3) One country, under God...

4) Christian specific prayers at federal functions...

These are just a few bits of evidence to support my point that while the separation exists, it is by no means complete and Christianity is unarguably the religion favored by our federal government. So my argument is not to take away from the Christians, but to acknowledge members of other religions. Think about it, this is a win/win situation! Christians get to keep what they have already established, other religions will get some well deserved recognition, we will be upholding our beloved Constitution, and everyone will get what they really want, a few more days off of work!!! Brilliant!!! So I think that you should all write your Congressmen/women and demand recognition of other religions, I would suggest that an observance of Yom Kippur, Bakr Id, and Diwali would be a great first step, and just think three more days away from the office! I think that more days off work is something we can all agree on.