This year, Tajikistan celebrates Idi Qurbon, or Eid al-Adha in Arabic, on August 21, and employees of the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) under the Government of Tajikistan are expected to make raids to inspect compliance of the festive dastarkhan amount with requirements of the country’s law regulating expenses for celebrations by people. A dastarkhan is the name used across Central Asia to the traditional space where food is eaten. The term may refer to the tablecloth which is spread on the ground, floor, or table and is used as a sanitary surface for food, but it is also used more broadly to refer to the entire meal setting.
Article 7(4) of the law regulating expenses for celebrations by people says that “on the Ramazon (Eid ul-Fitra) and Qurbon (Eid al-Adha) holidays, the festive dastarkhans should be frugal and waste and luxuries are prohibited.”
Meanwhile, representatives from Dushanbe-based Law Firm Himoya say CRA employees can enter houses only with permission of householders.
Recall, Afshin Muqim, a spokesman for CRA, told Asia-Plus on August 14 that citizens who will spend lavish holidays will be fined 5,000 somoni.
The law regulating expenses for celebrations by people initially drafted by President Emomali Rahmon is actual since 2007. According to the document, citizens who spend lavish weddings and funerals, thereby damaging their family budget, are subject to fine.
Eid al-Adha, “Festival of Sacrifice” or “Greater Eid,” is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God, but instead was able to sacrifice a ram (by God's command).
Eid is also about spending time with family and friends, sacrifice, and thanksgiving for being able to afford food and housing. In traditional or agrarian settings, each family would sacrifice a domestic animal, such as a sheep, goat, cow, or camel, by slaughter (though some contemporary Muslims do not sacrifice an animal as part of their observance, it is still a very popular tradition, even in Muslim communities in Europe). The meat would then be divided into three equal parts to be distributed to others. The family eats one third, another third is given to other relatives, friends or neighbors, and the other third is given to the poor as a gift.
Eid al-Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims. Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon (khutbah).
While Eid al-Adha is always on the same day of the Islamic calendar, the date on the Gregorian calendar varies from year to year since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. The lunar calendar is approximately eleven days shorter than the solar calendar. Each year, Eid al-Adha (like other Islamic holidays) falls on one of about 2–4 different Gregorian dates in different parts of the world, because the boundary of crescent visibility is different from the International Date Line.
