"Aid Mubarak!"

Today is Aid, one of the most important celebrations in Muslim societies.

The first Aid I saw was in Niger and it was quite similar to the one of Socotra. The second was in a military camp of Bangladeshi peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire: too peculiar as to take it as an example of Aid.

It is the day that families gather and eat the goat that has been slaughtered in the morning and, after that, the relatives greet themselves. Later, they send one of them to bring some meet to the neighbours, and they would not bring to another house a piece of meet that is less valuable than the one that house had previously sent to them. It is also the day that all bad feelings are left behind and reconciliations are easier. Doesn’t is sound a bit like…Christmas?

Anyway, I was not left behind in my being a Western foreigner and my assistant kindly invited me to have Aid with his brothers. It is the first time I actually participated in the celebration. We had lunch in a very cosy room, all around a big tray, full of meet, rice, vegetables and fruits. At the end of lunch, they all stood up and wished each other “Aid Mubarak!”. In Socotra, males kiss by touching the other’s nose with his, avoiding the contact of the two fronts, and making a discrete sound of a kiss. During this ritual, they sometimes kiss each other by cheek-contact. Don’t ask me what women do, because they gathered in another room.

Incredibly, they wanted me to participate to their greetings. This moment was the best cultural contact I could establish with the local population. I felt like being accepted in the family’s celebration just like all the other members. Today, I am probably the only foreigner in Socotra celebrating Aid, but I am also the only foreigner having the tremendous luck to be among a family who has welcomed me in its house like a close friend.

This is a very important day for me. Some people gave me the chance to forget about my daily intercultural difficulties and merge in the community during its special celebration. I just hope that I adequately responded to their generosity and honoured them as they deserve.

Today, somebody let me in, regardless of my cultural or religious distance. Today, I did not feel alone. Today, I am happy.

Ah, and some children I had never seen before knocked on the door to greet me. They run away with a packet of biscuits and a very puzzled expression on their face.

Aid Mubarak!