scarlet letter: the letter A in red; Puritans required adulterers to wear it
emblem: a visible symbol representing an abstract idea
id al-adha: the 10th day of Dhu'l-Hijja; all Muslims attend a service in the mosques and those who are not pilgrims perform a ritual slaughter of a sheep (commemorating God's ransom of Abraham's son from sacrifice) and give at least a third of the meat to charity