After Ramadan, Muslims will usher in another major festival – Eid al-Adha.
Recently, the Human Resources Management Bureau of the Federal Government of the United Arab Emirates officially announced that this year’s Eid al-Adha will be on August 11. As an important religious festival in Islam, what exactly is Eid al-Adha?
Eid al-Adha: Slaughtering livestock as a sacrifice to Allah
Eid al-Adha is a literal translation of Arabic, which means slaughtering livestock as a sacrifice to Allah.
According to the Quran, in order to test the prophet Ibrahim, Allah ordered him in a dream to slaughter his beloved son as a sacrifice. Ibrahim completely obeyed Allah’s command and prepared to slaughter his son as a sacrifice to Allah. After Allah verified Ibrahim’s loyalty, he sent an archangel to carry a black-headed ram on his back to replace Ibrahim’s son as a sacrifice.
In order to commemorate the ancestors and thank Allah, today’s Eid al-Adha was established. Slaughtering animals has also become an important festival custom.
At dawn on the day of Eid al-Adha, Muslims get up early to bathe, change into new clothes, spray perfume, and go to the mosque to attend the congregational prayer and pray.
After the congregational prayer, it is time to slaughter animals. Whether to slaughter cattle, sheep, or camels depends on the economic strength of each family, and those who cannot afford to slaughter animals are exempted. Due to the origin of the festival, slaughtering black-headed sheep is the most popular choice. The meat of the slaughtered animals is usually divided into three parts, one for personal use, one for relatives and friends, and one for the poor.
After the prayer and slaughter, Muslims will bring their families and children to dinner or family gatherings. Family members will distribute holiday gifts to children, and elders and juniors will also give gifts to each other.
Holiday shopping: The average online consumption exceeds US$133, and clothing and gifts are the first choice
Although the holiday promotions of Eid al-Adha are not as popular as those of Ramadan, judging from the holiday customs and atmosphere, people also have certain shopping needs.
According to data, women like shopping more than men during Eid al-Adha, and 34% of women spend more than $133 on online shopping.
Whether it is offline stores or online stores, clothing is an important promotional category for the festival.
Like Ramadan, Muslims will also change into new clothes during Eid al-Adha. The early morning prayer on the day of Eid al-Adha is the largest prayer of the year, and Muslims attach great importance to it. Men, women, young and old will wear their best clothes to go to the mosque to pray. Since Eid al-Adha is an important traditional festival, more people will change into newly bought traditional clothes.
In order to express their importance to the festival, many Muslim women will also buy jewelry and other accessories to show themselves in their clothes, while Muslim men like to buy watches.
Visiting relatives and friends is indispensable during the festival, and giving gifts to each other has become an important part of Eid al-Adha. Holiday gift promotions are also widely concerned by consumers.
Cash is the most common gift during Eid al-Adha. The elders simply roll up the banknotes with green gift wrapping ropes and give them out as cash gifts.
In addition, food, clothing, baby products and electronic products are all popular gifts for Eid al-Adha. Especially with the acceleration of the digitalization process in the Middle East and North Africa, people are keen to use various digital electronic products, and electronic product gifts are also a good choice for gifts.
Eid al-Adha is celebrated for three days, and many Muslims also take advantage of this short holiday to take their families out for a trip. Every time before the holidays, the number of online travel tickets will increase.
Festival promotion: Sheep elements are popular, and mobile shopping experience is emphasized
Since the origin of the festival is closely related to sheep, sheep has become the most representative symbol of this festival. When doing advertising, businesses often add sheep elements to highlight Eid al-Adha, among which cartoon sheep with black heads and white bodies are particularly popular.
In addition, charity is also an important part of Eid al-Adha. One of the links after slaughtering the animal is to give the meat to the poor. If businesses can highlight the information of cooperation with charitable organizations in the product promotion page, they may also attract more people to buy.
During holidays, people spend less time on computers and more time on their phones. When creating product recommendation pages, merchants should focus on consumers’ mobile reading and shopping experience.