About 90 percent of the people of my country are Muslim. But even our non-Muslim friends respect the celebration of the biggest Muslim holiday of the year, the Feast of the Sacrifice. This holiday is known as Tabaski, which is the Wolof word for sacrifice.

According to the Qur'an, Allah asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Though Abraham was deeply troubled by Allah's request, he agreed to perform the sacrifice as a sign of his obedience. But just before Abraham began the sacrifice, Allah told him to offer a sheep instead.

To remember Abraham's offering, every family sacrifices a sheep on Tabaski morning. The rest of the day is spent in prayer and celebration. Everyone wears new clothes. Parents give their children presents and money. People feast on the roast sheep, and share the meat with others. They visit family and friends, and give thanks to Allah.

To watch a video about Tabaski, select one of the following options. Note: Parts of the following video are in French with English subtitles. The subtitles may be difficult to read on the sixteen screen sized presentations. 

A quarter screen, 16 MB, 6 frames/sec presentation. (high speed connection recommended)

A sixteenth screen, 5 MB, 1 frames/sec presentation. (high speed connection recommended - subtitles are hard to read) 

Photographs and video from Africa: One Continent. Many Worlds. traveling exhibit. Used with permission.

jca