Celebrate What?

2009. November 27/Dhul Hijjah 10th. Eid ul Adha.

It's so weird living in this time of the Earth's life. A few hundred years ago,you have people celebrating some guy being electrocuted while flying a kite. Go back another few hundred years,you have people being blamed of being witches and people celebrated when they were burnt alive. Dotted between these two are people celebrating their victories in wars. They all had something to celebrate and they all knew the reason they celebrated - finding electricity, destroying evil and triumph over their enemies. You can hardly say the same for this era.
People celebrate things because they see other people celebrate it. They don't have an inkling of why those people were celebrating it in the first place. Some people skip all the ritual doodahs and only appear when they see something in it for themselves. This is exactly what's happening in Eid.
I've always thought that Eid was a time of happiness. At first, it was just a thought, but then my parents told me the real reason we're celebrating Eid ul Adha and I was actually happy. The reason was that Nabi Ibrahim (aalaihisalam) saw a dream that he was going to sacrifice his son, Nabi Ismail (aalaihisalam)-a vision from Allah- and both Prophets agreed to it. The moment Nabi Ibrahim's knife went up into the air, preparing to sacrifice his own son, Allah stopped him saying: O Ibrahim! You have fulfilled the dream(Ch 37:99-111 Quran). He stopped him and instead sent a great ram down to be sacrificed instead and eaten by the Prophets as a reward for having complete faith in Allah and following his orders without question.
The reason Nabi Muhammad (sallallahu aalaihi was salam) asked us to celebrate the 10th of every Dhul Hijjah was to remember Nabi Ibrahim's unwavering obedience to Allah.
Now, I'm not saying people do not know the history of Eid ul Adha, rather, they tend to celebrate it without the real reason in mind. They celebrate it because there's loads of food, people gather in huge numbers and the tea is exceptional. I just find it really sad that Nabi Ibrahim's obedience is no longer a cause of celebration. I really want to see how the people of Old celebrated it and compare it to this time. I'm sure there will be noticeable differences.
The Takbir is just words if you don't mean any of it. And I don't think that saying it beautifully is the reason we actually recite it. Umi said that the reason that the people of Old recited the Takbir was to show the strength of the Muslims and not their beauty. This means that we're meant to say it loudly and proudly and with power that scares the Kafiruns.
The cause, the mindset and the methods were changed over time unwillingly, maybe not hugely but still significantly.
This was one of my only posts that I had put thought into. I hope anyone that read this finds it helpful for next year.