In Zanzibar a few weeks ago some Catholic churches were firebombed. We had no problems and Salum assured us that no one
would ever harm us.
On our way in to Stone Town on Sunday we drove past hundreds of people walking towards what I assume is normally a soccer field. This day they were walking towards a political rally of Zanzibarian nationalism. They have a word for it which I can't recall but it's "the awakening".
This is the history as I understand it: Zanzibar was a part of Oman until 1962. At that point there was a violent revolution. The violent revolution involved killing and beating between the Arabs (Omanis) and Africans (mainlanders and those that had been on Zanzibar). A lot of this hard feeling between the two groups would be that Oman had run a very profitable slave trade of Africans before the British Navy shut it down. Once the revolution happened, the new leaders of Zanzibar were eager to quickly legitimize what they had done and proposed a union between Z and Tanganyika. They combined to become Tanzania.
Ever since that time, Zanzibarians have generally felt that they have gotten a raw deal in the union. Now the Imams (Zanzibar is 98% Muslim, compared to the mainland which is 50%) are leading the Awakening to try and become their own country. The churches were destroyed because they are a symbol
of the mainland.
Someone might say, but the country of Tanzania has 44 million and Zanzibar has 1 million but a third of the seats in the house and all sorts of political clout so they would actually have less power as an individual nation and maybe the Imam's are interested in being in control rather than doing what's best for Zanzibar.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
If I took a holiday
Today is a stat holiday. Holiday is sikuku (day is siku).
Today is Eid. It is a Muslim day of sacrifice that coincides with the end of the Hajj. The Hajj is the pilrimage to Mecca and N's sister went this year. This is a "big deal" (I know you know this). She felt she was called this year. This is one of those things that if events conspire to prevent you from going you don't work through it. It wasn't meant to be that year and Allah doesn't want you to go.
When N's sister was here last month N was telling us about the women that cover up except for their eyes. That is fairly common to see here - perhaps 2-3% of women. That is not allowed on the Hajj and if women do cover their faces they will be told to uncover their faces so that God can see it. (it was at this point that N told us there is no prescription against drinking in the Koran, rather, after some years it was decided that you couldn't be drunk and talk to God because you would talk nonsense. So really you just can't be drunk at prayer time. There is a lot of prayer time)
Eid commemerates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to God. It is based on the lunar calendar so the date changes every year. This year it was marked as Monday in the calendars here. It was celebrated yesterday by all the other Muslim countries, and today we're celebrating it here. So the date was changed - ahh, astrophysics why are you so arbitrary? Also, I guess the government here determines that it's the day following whatever the event of the moon is while everyone else is determining it was the day of the night.
Okay - I googled. This is from wikipedia: Each year, Eid al-Adha (like other Islamic holidays) falls on one of two different Gregorian dates in different parts of the world, due to the fact that the boundary of crescent visibility is different from the International Date Line. Interesting. But not enough to send me looking to see what countries do it which way and compare their longitudes.
In honour of Abraham (who sacrificed a ram rather than his son), it is tradition that people will slaughter the best of their herd and keep a third, give a third to a neighbour, and give a third to the poor. Yay, me. I'm a neighbour. N dropped off a very generous serving of goat last night. Today she will be taking in some friends and family visitors but not everyone like some do ("who wants all those people in their house?").
Today is Eid. It is a Muslim day of sacrifice that coincides with the end of the Hajj. The Hajj is the pilrimage to Mecca and N's sister went this year. This is a "big deal" (I know you know this). She felt she was called this year. This is one of those things that if events conspire to prevent you from going you don't work through it. It wasn't meant to be that year and Allah doesn't want you to go.
When N's sister was here last month N was telling us about the women that cover up except for their eyes. That is fairly common to see here - perhaps 2-3% of women. That is not allowed on the Hajj and if women do cover their faces they will be told to uncover their faces so that God can see it. (it was at this point that N told us there is no prescription against drinking in the Koran, rather, after some years it was decided that you couldn't be drunk and talk to God because you would talk nonsense. So really you just can't be drunk at prayer time. There is a lot of prayer time)
Eid commemerates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to God. It is based on the lunar calendar so the date changes every year. This year it was marked as Monday in the calendars here. It was celebrated yesterday by all the other Muslim countries, and today we're celebrating it here. So the date was changed - ahh, astrophysics why are you so arbitrary? Also, I guess the government here determines that it's the day following whatever the event of the moon is while everyone else is determining it was the day of the night.
Okay - I googled. This is from wikipedia: Each year, Eid al-Adha (like other Islamic holidays) falls on one of two different Gregorian dates in different parts of the world, due to the fact that the boundary of crescent visibility is different from the International Date Line. Interesting. But not enough to send me looking to see what countries do it which way and compare their longitudes.
In honour of Abraham (who sacrificed a ram rather than his son), it is tradition that people will slaughter the best of their herd and keep a third, give a third to a neighbour, and give a third to the poor. Yay, me. I'm a neighbour. N dropped off a very generous serving of goat last night. Today she will be taking in some friends and family visitors but not everyone like some do ("who wants all those people in their house?").