Mumbai: The Islamic festival of Eid ul’ Azha or Bakr Eid will be celebrated Saturday. Festivities span three days. Eid ul’ Zuha, as it is also called, is celebrated on the tenth day of the pious month of Zulhijjah, the final month of the Islamic calendar. The holy Hajj pilgrimage is under way at this time.“Bakr Eid ceremonies are observed over three days. It is mandated that one-third of the sacrificial meat be distributed among the poor, and a similar portion among friends and relatives. The individual or family which offers the sacrifice keeps just one-third for themselves. The festival offers an opportunity to the poor, who cannot otherwise afford to buy expensive meat, to consume it at least once a year,” said Arshad Shaikh, a businessman from Behrambaug in Jogeshwari who was browsing the local Bakra Mandi with his family mid-week.Meanwhile, colourful Eid bazaars mushroomed across Muslim enclaves like Mohammed Ali Road, Byculla, Bandra, Andheri West, Vaishali Nagar in Jogeshwari and Malvani in Malad. Women purchased new clothes and accessories for their families and households, and visited kerbside henna artists to apply mehndi on their palms late evening.Saturday will witness a feast of choice delicacies like biryani, meat curries, korma, paya and the traditional sweet, sheerkhurma. “The festival has arrived on a weekend so working families and businessmen too will enjoy at leisure,” said Shama Mansuri, a homemaker from Malvani.
