L'3id Al Adha

And then there was l’3id al Adha, L’Eid Kbir, Tabaski…whichever name suits your fancy…

L’Eid Al Adha is the festival of sacrifice. For my family it meant the sacrifice of three sheep, one for the family, one for grandma and one for baby Aya. L’Eid Kbir follows the end of the Hajj, where Muslims around the world trek to Mecca.  The sacrifice of the sheep represents Abraham’s willingness to submit to God and sacrifice his eldest son. The sacrifice of sheep on Eid Al Adha represents the ram given to Abraham by an angel to sacrifice in place of his son.

This is a time to share food with family, friends and the poor. It is also a time to reflect on the sacredness of life as we take the life of an animal, over which God has given us power.  Lastly it is a time to make sacrifices and remember that we all have to make sacrifices to stay on the correct path in life.

We got up early and all of the men went to the mosque to pray. The women got breakfast ready and we all ate together when the men returned. After that the men cleaned the roof where the sacrifice was to take place. We did not kill the sheep in front of one another.  Two men held the sheep down while the third slit the sheep’s throat in just the right spot. A spurt of blood would shoot out, all of the men would jump back, and the sheep would flop about. The men would then pour water over the throat, which seemed to put a stop to any movement. Next they would blow the sheep up through a slit on the leg between the bone and skin. The sheep’s legs were broken, slipped through a rope hanging from the ceiling and then the skin was peeled off. It is actually pretty incredible how they can just pull the whole pelt off, kind of like a tight sweater you have to squirm to get off. But it comes off all in one piece. They then blew out the intestines as little pelets of poop went round in round. It sounded something like a balloon with beans in it being shaken about. The women had the responsibility of cleaning out the insides and preparing them for dinner. I was slightly amused, however morbid, to see lungs, liver, and the esophagus hanging out to dry on the laundry line with some of yesterday’s laundry.

I was relieved to eat Chicken for lunch that day but ever since we have had grilled meat for just about every meal. We had grilled liver, heart, lung , shish kebabs. The lungs had the best flavor but the worst texture, slightly spongy. I liked the heart best and the liver least. We also had sheep skull for dinner one night. It wouldn’t have been so bad if there were anything on the skulls other then fatty, mushy, slimy flesh and teeth. Last night we had sheep brains fried up with eggs. They were spongy but with a ratio of 2:1 bread to braineggs I couldn’t taste them much. In between all of these meals have been some very satisfying kebabs of grilled meat. They always taste a little gamey but hey its grilled meat, I’m not complaining.

As the Eid celebration has started to come to an end the meals of sheep parts have not.