Holy Night

Here’s what a (English speaking) voice from Jakarta sounds like. And here’s a voice from Guernica (for a political science flavor), a Hebrew speaker from Yehud, and saving best for last, and in honor of C&J’s return from West Africa, an Ewe speaker from Accra, Ghana.
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The highlight of this week was a rather sleepless night in honor of Idul Adha (Arabic “Eid ul-Adha”), the “Big Eid”, commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Ishmael to God (a couple of other religions mix up the sons). Two of the main traditions of the holiday are community-wide participation in traditional prayers, throughout the night, and the sacrifice of animals.

My place happens to be strategically located between three competing mosques. Part of this competition was the night-long simultaneous chanting of God’s greatness over the different loudspeakers by everyone in the community. Children were invited. Very young children too. People who can’t carry a pitch were not discriminated against either. It was a long night. Interesting, but long.

In the morning, the streets bore the signs of the holiday too. I did my best to avoid the puddles of blood and the head of a cow in the alleyway. I know a bule who skipped eating that day.
You wouldn’t actually know it was Idul Adha from the big malls of the city, however. Christmas is everywhere there, Santa Claus and carols included. It’s really hard to remember in the malls that this is the largest Muslim country in the world.
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On nationalism and grammar.