Morocco Considers Canceling Eid al-Adha Amid COVID-19 Economic Strain

The repercussions of the covid-19 pandemic have had a lasting impact on the budgets of thousands of families affected by more than two months of confinement, reports the daily Al Akhbar. Thus, some eight weeks before this date of sharing, sacrifice and love, many are wondering if the king will cancel this edition, as his late father did at the time.

According to the same daily, in 1963, during the Sand War caused by the intrusion of the Algerian army on Moroccan soil, King Hassan II had canceled this feast due to the severe economic crisis. The second cancellation occurred in 1981 due to the drought associated with a difficult economic situation, marked by the famous structural adjustment plan.

The last cancellation that took place quite recently in 1995 was decided by King Hassan II. At the time, the Minister of Habous and Islamic Affairs, Abdelkebir El Mdaghri, had read a message from the late King Hassan II in which he stated that due to a disastrous agricultural season, Eid would not be celebrated.