Muslims across Nova Scotia gather for Eid al-Adha for the first time in two years

Inside a tiny halal meat shop in Halifax, Mohamed Elsaraitihas been serving close to 150 customers a day.

Eidal-Adhakicked off onFriday, leading to one of the busiest weekends of the year for halal merchants.

"Yesterday, me and the owner were up since 5 a.m. to go and get prepared for the day," Elsaraiti said."And we've been running last night till1:00 at night."

A constant stream of people hasbeen flowing through theopen door of Al Hilal Meat Shop and Middle Eastern Cuisine, many of them grabbing multiple grocery bags full of sliced meat to prepare for family festivities.

Eidal-Adha is one of the two main Muslim holidays, which celebrates the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, as well asthe Prophet Ibrahim, who had a dream that Allah commanded him to sacrifice his son.

The holiday is celebrated with large socialgatherings, communal prayersandby sacrificing an animal and sharing the meat with family,friends andcommunity members.

Abdullah Yousri, imam of the UmmahMasjid Mosque in Halifax, said giving to charity is also a significant part of Eidal-Adha.

"We share food and share meat [and gifts] with family, with friends and also for the less fortunate in the community we will give away lots of charity duringthese days."

Yousri said families often choose their own charity to donate to, andit canbe local or across the world.

Inflation taking a toll

Elsaraiti said the shopwhere he workshas seen many of its customers impacted by inflation, which has reached thehighest point since the 1980s.

"Whoever used to come buy a whole lamb,now they're buyinghalf the lamb, a couple of pounds and all that. So sales did go down," he said.

Elsaraiti said this sparked the store's owner to work with his supplier, Oulton's Meats in the Annapolis Valley, to lower prices ahead of Eid. The shopchangedthe price of lamb from $11 per pound to $9.50.

"[The owner]said, 'I'm going to help the people, too.'They changed the price, and now people are back on it."

Celebrations around the province

This year, the UmmahMosque held an outdoor Eid prayer for the first time since the pandemic began. Yousri said thousands of people from all over came to the mosquethroughout the day.

"The field was packed with the sisters and brothers and kids coming together to celebrate."

Yousri said after the prayer, people shared a meal while kids played on bouncy castles, met first responders and visited with farm animals. The community also celebrated with a harbour cruise and a camping trip in Cape Breton later in the weekend.

"It is different [this year] because we are able to get together and connect," he said."For us, this is the moment when we get together and eat together and share and visit.All of these things were not possible during the pandemic.

"People have been longing for this for two years now."