Abbas Abdul-Malek Al-Dailami usually marks the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha with his family in Al-Humaidi neighborhood in the Old City of Sanaa by sacrificing a lamb, an annual ritual for those who can afford it.

But for the fifth year in the row, the soldier at the Directorate of Moral Guidance at the Ministry of Defense says he has not been able to buy a sacrificial lamb for Eid Al-Adha, which begins on July 9, after the government in Sanaa stopped paying him a whole salary, and he is instead paid half a salary every three or four months.

"Lambs for sacrifice are cheap this year, but I can't afford it for lack of liquidity, so I will barely be able to afford one kilo of veal," Al-Dailami, the father of two boys and three girls, told Al Mayadeen English.

The Saudi-backed government relocated the Central Bank of Yemen from Sanaa to occupied Aden in late 2016 and since then, the National Salvation Government in Sanaa has been struggling to pay the salaries of public servants.

Yemen's warring parties signed a two-month truce starting April 2, but it was extended on June 2 for another two months ending on August 2.

Now, the UN has been seeking to extend the truce, but the Ansarullah movement demands the neutralization of the economy where revenues of resources like oil and gas should go to the payment of salaries for public servants.    

The UN estimated last year that the Saudi war on Yemen would have killed 377,000 people by the end of 2021. 

Saudi Arabia launched an aggression against Yemen on 26 March 2015 backed by the US and UK following the success of the Ansar Allah movement in toppling the government of Abed Rabu Mansour Hadi on September 21, 2014, in a popular revolution, but Hadi fled Yemen into Saudi Arabia in March 2015.

Eid amid UN truce

"This Eid is special because prices of local Eid sweets like grapes and nuts are low, but the imported grapes and nuts are very expensive," Al-Dailami told Al Mayadeen English just outside his home on his way to buy other Eid necessities.

Al-Dailami said this Eid is "special in many ways" because of the truce. 

"We feel stability; there is no bombardment killing dozens of innocent children and women every day," he added, pointing out that this Eid is better although there are still restrictions on Al-Hudaydah port and Sanaa airport.

On July 6, the UN special envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg announced that "in view of the upcoming Eid celebrations, the parties’ focal points in the military coordination committee agreed to consolidate their commitment to the current truce through a continued halt of all offensive ground, aerial, and maritime military operations, inside and outside of Yemen, and freezing current military positions on the ground."

"The parties agreed to work in the military coordination committee and the joint coordination room towards further strengthening their efforts to build trust and contribute to a more conducive environment for dialogue, as well as improving the situation for Yemeni civilians", according to the statement, emailed to Al Mayadeen English.

"I will celebrate Eid in my Al-Humaidi neighborhood (eastern the Great Mosque of Sanaa), but I will visit my home village in Hamal village south of the capital Sanaa the following days of Eid," said Al-Dailami who was surrounded by his neighbors.

Al-Dailami said on Eid day, he goes to the mosque to pray and listen to the lecture, offers his lamb sacrifice or buys veal, goes to visit his close relatives, sisters, daughters, and aunts and gives them  "‘Asb”; i.e. money given as a gift on the Eid. 

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Asked what he bought for his children on Eid, he said dresses and henna for the girls and Jambiyas for the boys.

"Jambiya is a short curved blade that is considered as one of our long-standing indigenous heritage," he told Al Mayadeen English.

Souq Al-Janabi

Sameer Al-Quradhi, from Ibb Governate, was with his brother and son at Souq Al-Janabi, a popular market inside the Old City of Sanaa. He was buying Jambiyas for them to be worn on Eid Al-Adha.

"Jambiya is what we inherited from our grandparents," Al-Quradhi said. "We cannot abandon it either on Eid or during typical days."

"I've bought a Jambiya for my son Senan who is one year and a half old," Al-Quradhi told Al Mayadeen English.

Al-Quradhi was buying Jambiyas with his brother who also bought a dagger for his 8-year-old Mahran.

"I will spend Eid with my father at my rural village in Ibb province," said Al-Quradhi. Ibb is 198km south of the capital Sanaa.

"We have a lamb to sacrifice on our farm; that's why I will travel this afternoon to my village in Ibb," said Al-Quradhi on the morning of July 7.

He pointed out that they don't eat the sacrificed lamb alone, rather "we give out parts of it to relatives and poor people who can’t do the Eid sacrifice."

"Henna of paradise"

In the eastern part of Souq Al-Janabi, there is Souq Al-Hena, another popular market for grinding henna and selling it in the Old City of Sanaa.

This crowded market was in hustle during the visit of Al Mayadeen English because an elderly woman was screaming because she lost her son in the crowd. 

This pushed vendors to use their little microphones to call in the market: "A little boy is lost. If you find him, bring him here!"

At one shop of henna sits Abdul-Karim Mohammed, filling plastic bags with henna to be sold. 

He said Al-Hudaydah province produces the largest quantities of henna for Yemen at its farms, then comes Haraz in second place in Sanaa province.

"My clients are both male and female," Mohammed told Al Mayadeen English. "They use it for special occasions like Eid, weddings, or medicine for fever for example."

At that moment, a woman arrived to buy henna from Mohammed. We asked her how to use henna. Umm Ali replied, "We use it for makeup," showing me henna on her right hand's fingers and palm.

"Henna is very beautiful. This is the henna of paradise," Umm Ali said, describing the quality of henna and how she is comfortable putting it on her hands.

"We use it on every occasion like Eid, weddings, and even women who ended 40 days after giving childbirth," added the Sanaa resident, Umm Ali, who declined to give her real name because of the highly conservative society she lives in.