Joyous Tunisians celebrate Al Adha Feast

Al Adha Prayers were performed by Tunisians today amidst an atmosphere of joy and happiness. It was the second feast without ousted President Ben Ali and the first public occasion after national constituent assembly elections. Tunisians went out on the streets and to public parks to perform their Eid Al Adha prayers without fear of an oppressive regime that put rigid restrictions on mosques and banned prayers in public parks. Al Adha Eid is known to make people together as a family; families gather in "Kabeer Al Howma" to celebrate the feast. Many other occasions originated in the customs and traditions of the country that were inherited by centuries-old Tunisian society.    "Generation after generation slaughter of the prey (Odhia) is an inherited by the Tunisians as the sheep is provided by water to drink in the early morning on Eid Al Adha feast, then washing its limbs and putting it beside a grate burning with Javanese fragrance for affecting its conscious...the slaughter takes place after Imam (the leader) slaughters his prey," said Abd El Sattar Ammamo, a researcher in Tunisian Heritage. People wait for the Bey (a title given to leaders in the country) to slaughter his prey, after which guns are shot announcing the start of slaughtering by the public, while in places away from the capital, people wait for Al Qayed (the mayor) of Mufti to slaughter, and are then given permission act accordingly. The first part to be taken out of the prey is the gall as in Tunisia they regard it as a sign of earning well, so they hang it in a place outside the house. While the first thing to be grilled is the liver as it symbolises taking revenge of the enemy by eating his liver as it was used to after wars in ancient times. The Tunisian women used to use all parts of the sheep in the best possible way. The left shoulder is given to the poor, while the one of the hips is eaten fresh and the other is used in cooking some public food such as Merkaz, while the neck and the backbone are used in making Koskosi and Nawaser, ribs are used to make spliced meat, bones are used to make soup. Delicious Dishes: There a lot of delicious dishes in Tunisia that are made many centuries ago in many occasions, especially Al Adha Feast as they need big quantities of meat such as El Osban which is a must to a Tunisian mother every Adha Feast to be cooked although it takes a lot of effort.    The researcher of Tunisian Heritage says that El Osban is mentioned in all historical references since the 13th century. It is a dish that proves the skillfulness of Tunisian woman in making use of all parts of the slaughtered animal.    Although Koskosi is popular in many territories of Tunisia, urban territories don't like it as they like Nawaser with Osban instead. Urban invented Nawaser with Osban which is named after the Nasiry Dinar. This dish is not found in any other country in the world other than Tunisia. Koskosi is also the most popular dish in Nova obroka in Cecelia Island. In addition, there’s Al Banadages, which is an Andalusian dish used by Andalusian people to traffic their jewellery to North Africa when they used to escape in the 9th century. Sameed is one of the prominent composites of this dish in addition to fried meat (Makali) which consists of pieces of meat and liver of the sheep. Further, there is Bezeenm, a barbarian dish mainly made of flour and eaten after shaping into circles. Al Mohammer is also present in on Eid Al Adha board. This dish is made of meat cubes, onions and potatoes. Although a large amount of fat is included in such dishes, they are regarded among the most healthy dishes and the most balanced as they consist of various nutritional substances, especially pasta, meat and vegetables. Bin Ali on TV again: Bin Ali appeared on television in a religious broadcast for Fawzi Kamara that included praise and prayers for Bin Ali and his company. Social networking websites were used to express people’s resentment at the broadcast. National TV officials apologised to Tunisians for the event and Mohamed Al Saidy, the general officer of regulations and production and member of culture and media syndicate, undertook the responsibility of taking punitive action against those who made this mistake. He called on the head of the National TV in Tunisia to resign as he "commits big faults and puts restrictions on free writers." He also stressed that national and patriotic figures should be in charge of the mass media in the country during the transitional period.