Eid Al Adha

There are two Eid festivals: one at the end of Ramadan and one to commemorate Ebrahim's offer to slaughter his son as a sacrifice on God's command (sound familiar?).

Part of the Eid Al Adha festival is the slaughter of an animal, with some of the meat donated to charity. This means that for the three days of Eid there is a huge run on local abattoirs, since the government has banned the slaughter of animals in public places. Apparently only 5% of UAE nationals take their animals for slaughter at the abattoir, despite the ban. In the last few years complaints about health hazards due to free-lance butchers working in the street have increased, but the capacity of the slaughter houses has not. This means that even if people are willing to take their animal to the abattoir, they have to queue for hours while free-lance butchers wait outside the slaughterhouses to offer cheaper and quicker service. It's a mess.