Residents of Chechnya are celebrating Kurban Bairam

Today the population of Chechnya like the whole Moslem world started celebrating the holiday of sacrificial offering Kurban Bairam (Id-al-Adkh). From the early morning the Moslem believers gathered in the mosques for festive prayer after which the ceremony of sacrificial offering traditionally starts.

The holiday of Kurban Bairam is a final stage of the khaj to the Moslem sacred places in Mecca. Today the pilgrims in the valley of Mina are doing a symbolic rite of beating down shaitan with stones and the day before they had ascended to the mountain of Arafat and prayed till sunset.

On the day of Kurban Bairam it is advisable for a Moslem to get up as early as possible for the morning prayer in the mosque. The night before the holiday should be spent in prayers, too.

Kurban Bairam is one of the main Moslem holidays. On this day one should go and see one's people, congratulate them on the holiday, visit one's relatives' graves and dispense charity to the needy. But the most important part is the rite of sacrificial offering.

It is only permitted to immolate camels, buffalos, cows (bulls), sheep (rams) or goats.

One part of the sacrificial animal remains to the donor himself and his family, another one is meant for treating neighbours and relatives and the third one is distributed among the poor as charity. It is believed that with the first drop of blood of the sacrificial animal a Moslem receives forgiveness for his previous sins.

"Every Moslem who has enough money must do Kurban (in Chechen - Gurba) for in this way one reveals one's love for God", Ali, representative of local clergy, says.