The Sudanese mark Eid al-Adha this year as the war enters its fourth year, amid a harsh humanitarian and economic reality that has changed the face of the holiday and stripped it of many of the social meanings that had remained deeply rooted for decades. In a country where holidays have long been associated with family gatherings, visits and invitations to share grilled sacrificial meat, millions of Sudanese are receiving Eid this year amid displacement, poverty, hunger and fear. Priorities have shifted from buying a sacrificial animal and children’s clothes to searching for food, medicine and drinking water. Sudanese, often dressed in bright white clothes during Eid al-Adha, were accustomed to exchanging visits and invitations with neighbors, friends and relatives, and eating grilled meat in homes, neighborhoods and open squares. The practice was one of the most prominent social rituals linked to the occasion, alongside the exchange of meat and family visits. But the war and economic collapse have greatly weakened those traditions, after large numbers of families became unable to buy sacrificial animals or even meet basic needs. Refugees and displaced people appear to be suffering most during the holidays, after many lost their homes and sources of income and settled in camps and shelters that lack basic services. Those who remain in other cities and towns face a suffocating economic reality that consumes their limited incomes. In displacement centers inside Sudan, Eid passes amid crowded tents and high temperatures, with shortages of food, water and healthcare, while diseases such as cholera, malaria and dengue fever spread in areas affected by the war. “Children no longer ask about clothes or toys, but about food. Many of them do not even feel that there is an Eid,” said Amouna Ismail, a displaced woman from North Darfur who lives in a shelter in the city of Al Dabba. In refugee camps in neighboring countries, the situation appears more complicated, with large numbers of Sudanese almost entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. A refugee in one of the camps in Uganda, identified by her initials M.N., said she had not felt the joy of any Eid since fleeing Sudan. “But what can we do? We are waiting for the war to stop and to return to our country,” she said. “I did not buy sheep for the sacrifice; I raised them at home.” Umm Ahmed, who was displaced from Kordofan to Gedaref, said: “In the past, Eid was an occasion for joy and connection. Now people feel ashamed because they cannot do anything for their children or their displaced neighbors.” Even outside areas of displacement and asylum, life remains difficult for many Sudanese who stayed in their cities and villages, amid sharp price increases, falling incomes and interruptions to basic services. Hashim Moussa, a secondary school teacher, said his salary of 140,000 pounds is no longer enough to buy even one sack of sugar, whose price has exceeded 200,000 Sudanese pounds. He said teachers had not received salaries or allowances, and that payments for exam monitoring had not been disbursed. “How can a teacher bring joy to his children or buy clothes and food under these circumstances?” he asked. Abdullah Mohammed Yusuf, 52, said the war had drained families’ savings and weakened returns from farming and work. His job as a tractor driver no longer provides enough income to cover living costs or buy an Eid sacrificial sheep, he said. Khaled al-Tihami, a blacksmith, said repeated power cuts had directly affected his work and income. Farming has also become less viable due to water shortages, high fuel and seed costs, and seasonal pests, making it extremely difficult to buy a sacrificial animal this year. Dr. Salah Jalal, spokesman for the Sudanese Group for Refugee Advocacy, said aid organizations and relief initiatives had worked to provide sacrificial animals in Sudanese refugee camps in eastern Chad, especially in Adre, Maji and Abu Tanqi, as well as refugee camps in South Sudan, Duweli camp and the Ugandan capital Kampala. He said the initiatives aim to ease the suffering of families who have lost almost everything because of the war, especially during holidays when refugees and displaced people feel a deeper sense of isolation and loss. He said the Turkish Red Crescent provided 100 bulls for Eid sacrifice to Sudanese refugees in the Kiryandongo camp in Uganda. In recent years, the Eid sacrifice has no longer been only a religious rite. It has also become a social marker reflecting financial ability and family stability, especially in major cities. But the war and economic collapse have forced many families to abandon those rituals for the first time. Livestock markets have been directly affected by the war, after large areas in Kordofan and Darfur, known for sheep production, were pushed out of normal activity because of fighting, insecurity and the difficulty of transporting livestock. Livestock traders said the movement of sheep from Darfur and Kordofan to central and northern states had fallen sharply because of security risks, rising transport costs and restrictions on livestock movement, driving up prices in major cities. Sheep prices in central and northern states range between 700,000 and 1.5 million Sudanese pounds, or about $150 to $300, sums beyond the reach of most families exhausted by war, inflation and the loss of income sources. By contrast, prices in Darfur and Kordofan ranged between 250,000 and 300,000 Sudanese pounds because of stagnation, weak purchasing power and the difficulty of moving livestock to the rest of the country. As the war continues and living conditions deteriorate, millions of Sudanese appear to be receiving another Eid weighed down by loss. The occasion is no longer tied to joy as much as it has become a daily reminder of the scale of the changes the war has imposed on people’s lives and society. In another sign of the changes the war has imposed on social life, some Sudanese states have moved Eid al-Adha prayers inside mosques instead of the public squares where Sudanese had performed the prayers for decades. In Sennar state, the state security committee approved a special Eid security plan that included instructions to hold prayers inside mosques, according to the official Sudan News Agency. Sudanese say the absence of open-air Eid prayers this year reflects the scale of the changes the war has imposed on the details of daily life and public holiday rituals. Eid squares were once open spaces for social gatherings and exchanging greetings on the morning of Eid.
