As the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha approaches, Fatima Kharraz can’t seem to find the usual sense of celebration after drought-stricken Morocco urged people to forego the traditional sheep sacrifice this year.
The rare call was made as the kingdom grapples with a seventh consecutive year of a dry spell that has caused livestock numbers to decline.
“We don’t feel the usual excitement,” said Kharraz. “It’s as if the holiday doesn’t exist.”
But the 52-year-old said it would have been prohibitively expensive to observe the sacrifice this year: sheep “prices were already high last year… We couldn’t have afforded it.” (Channels)
