Huge Lebanese family of 1,000 celebrates Eid al-Adha in Calgary park

No one in the El-Rafihfamily has a house big enough to fit everyone.

The family has around1,000 members who live in Calgary outnumbering the population of theirtiny home village in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

"We come from a very collectivist culture, right, and family is the core of that culture,"Mohamed El-Rafihsaid.

He helped organize themassive picnic and celebration at Prairie Winds Park on Tuesday to celebrate Eidal-Adha.The Islamic holiday celebrates feast and sacrifice and continues until Saturday. It also marks the end of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage for Muslims to the holy city of Meccain Saudi Arabia.

"Traditionally with Eid, we would go house-to-house visiting the oldest uncle or grandparents," El-Rafihtold the Calgary Eyeopener.

"But the families have become too big, Calgary has become too big. The Lebanese population here has increased drastically so now, you know, we come to parks."

The joint gathering lets people "basically speed date" through quick hellos to everyone they haven't had time to see, he said. About 250 individuals of the roughly 250 households turned out to the Tuesday afternoon event.

"It's a lot of fun because you love your family,"Amira Elrafie said. "When they all come together and you're all just happy and smiling and just celebrating it all together It's like love and everything, right? So we all enjoy each other's presences."

It's huge for children, too. They get to dress up and see their dozens of cousins. There are games to play, and relatives hand out gifts for the holiday.

"I remember as a kid, I would never sleep the night before because I was so excited," Fatima Elrafie said. "It's kind of like Christmas morning."

Earlier in the day, the family goesto the mosque for prayer between 7 and 9 a.m., as well.

On Saturday, they're involved in organizing a large Eidal-Adhacarnival at Bowness Park, which is open to non-Muslim members of the public. It starts at 10:30 a.m.

"I think a big pillar of our religion is keeping families together, keeping the community together," he said. "So this is one of those opportunities for us, it kind of forces us and compels us to keep family ties and ties of kinship."

The family, which now uses several spellings of El-Rafih and other last names, blossomed in Calgary since a great aunt moved from Nova Scotia to Grande Prairie in northern Alberta some decades ago.

She encouraged other cousins to move to Calgary, and year by year, more people joined. Now those family membersstick around, El-Rafih said.

"I think the farthest the family's gone is Chestermere," he said with a laugh. "I don't think much farther than that."

The family's roots in Canada date back to the late 1800s, when ancestors settled in Nova Scotia. They still have cousins in the Maritime province, as well as Ontario. Others arrived in Canada in the 1970sduring the Lebanese Civil War,El-Rafihsaid.

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With files from Elizabeth Withey, Angela Knight and the Calgary Eyeopener.