Eid al Mulad

Eid al Mulad, or the Prophet's Birthday is the only holiday that I'm in Morocco for. It isn't as important as Ramadan or Eid al-Kabir (where they sacrifice rams), but it is relatively a big deal. We got two days off of school for it (in Morocco, for any religious holiday you usually get two days off and one day off for a national holiday like the King's birthday). It reminds me a lot of Easter. There are a lot of prayers to go along with it, but mostly it is a time to dress up in your best clothes and visit family and eat sweets. Lots and lots of sweets. Yesterday, I went to Sale where they have a big parade for the holiday. It was like any big parade, with a lot of waiting for it to start and when it actually started not being able to see what was going on. There was lots of singing and dancing and then a procession of candles in big colorful boxes. Unfortunately, it was actually easier to see it when I came home and watched it on TV. Today I got pancakes for breakfast for the first time. They were covered with honey and very good, however, it was really really really sweet. Thus I couldn't drink my tea that also happened to be really really sweet. The rest of the day I spent studying, but I watched the people out in the street. Mostly today was just an extra day off. A time to go out with your family when you normally didn't have time to.