Shillong, Sep 25 (IANS): Eid-ul-Azha was celebrated on Friday with religious fervour and gaiety across Meghalaya, a predominantly Christian state.

Thousands of men and children wearing new clothes and skull caps offered prayers in Eidgahs and mosques in Shillong, Dawki, Nongpoh, Lad Rymbai and Byrnihat and in the Garo Hills.

The biggest congregation was at the Eidgah at the country's first glass mosque, the Madina Masjid in Shillong, where over 10,000 people offered prayers. Qari Abdul Hafeez led the prayers.

"We prayed for peace in our homes and in the world," Shillong Muslim Union general secretary Alhaj Sayeedullah Nongrum said.

After the prayers, Muslims sacrificed goats and other "halal" animals to commemorate the sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim.

The meat of the sacrificed animals is distributed among neighbours, relatives and the poor.

Governor V. Shanmuganathan and Chief Minister Mukul Sangma greeted the people on the occasion.

Shanmuganathan hoped "that the festival will promote peace, prosperity and harmony in the state".

Sangma said: "Let this feast of sacrifice remind us of the common values that unites us in our humanity and reinforce the obligation that people of all faiths have for one another."

Muslims constitute 4.40 percent of the nearly three million people of Meghalaya.