Eid: post prayer

Here's the last from my series of Eid photos from this past Monday. This is the inside of ISCJ mosque right after Eid prayer. Men and women pray in two separate groups in the same room, but guess who gets stuck with most of the kids? The women, how typical. This causes lots of extra commotion in the women's section. The kids LOVE to run around on the empty carpets. I have to admit, I did it too, when I was a kid... it was too tempting. Also adding to the chaos is the fact that you must take off your shoes and put them outside the main room before you pray. After a big prayer like this, there's a lot of confused people walking around with one shoe. It's quite a thing to go from a room full of hundreds silently praying in one unified movement, to a mass of people chattering and looking for their shoes.

It is not forbidden to take photos in a mosque, but those who disapprove always make it known, so that's why this photo is blurred. Still, I think it captures some of the backstage mayhem.