Vijayawada: Bakrid celebrated with gaiety, fervour

Vijayawada: Muslims across the state celebrated the Eid-ul-Adha (Bakrid), the second most important festival after Eid-ul-Fitr,with fervour and gaiety on Wednesday.

Men and children dressed in their finest attire offered Namaz at mosques and avoided mass prayers at the Eidgahs and other open places as per the orders of the State government.

Muslims wearing masks visited mosques for prayers and maintained social distance.

In Vijayawada, the annul Bakrid namaz was cancelled at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation stadium and other places like Gandhiji Municipal high school.

The clerics delivered sermons on the importance of Bakrid and explained the obedience of prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to the Allah and his readiness to sacrifice his son as per the orders of the Allah. After Eid prayer, they returned home to sacrifice animals. Sheep was sacrificed and meat was distributed to the poor, friends and relatives as per the tradition. Sheep meat is divided into three parts and one part is for the family and two parts will be distributed to the relatives, neighbours, friends and the poor.

Significantly, it was a tough task for goat/sheep sellers to sell their animals as people found them a bit expensive this year. Sheep was very expensive since the price of one animal ranged between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000 depending on size and age, which was beyond the capacity of many households.

According to one observer, because of the Covid pandemic, people suffered losses due to frequent lockdowns and declining business and income. Therefore, when the time came for purchasing a sheep or goat to sacrifice on the occasion of Eid, it went beyond their reach.

Muslims prayed for the well being of humanity and for the end of Covid pandemic, which devastated the economy of the country and the lives of the crores of people.