Sweet and happy sheep, before 9 AM. We didn't kill them all, don't worry!Tabaski has finally arrived. As part of my countdown until I get to Bamako, I'm really excited! Tabaski, which takes place 70 days after the Ramadan fete in the Muslim religion is celebrated here on December 30th, or 31st, depending on where you live. The reason for this is that when the moon was seen in Bamako for Ramadan, some of the people living in brussey villages didn’t believe the religious authorities and waited to either see it themselves or for another brussey village to see it. Therefore, the bigger towns/cities celebrate when Bamako celebrates, and the brussey villages celebrate together. This year, Bamako – and Douentza – celebrated December 30th. Basically, it’s the day to slaughter lots of sheep and feast – at least that’s what it is here in a “Muslim lite” country.
In preparation for the fete, my djatigi’s family bought and fattened up 7 sheep. All of the men went to the mosque this morning at 9 and promptly came home to slaughter the mutton. I missed the first one because I wasn’t paying attention, but lined up in time to get the whole thing on film. Yeah, a little gross I know, but I’m integrating into the culture here and I needed proof of my integration! It was pretty sad and the first time I’ve ever seen anything killed like that. I won’t go into details, and if you want the video, just ask. So, we decided to slaughter 4 today and then have a repeat tomorrow and do the other 3.
The process of killing the sheep is to cut its throat and let all the blood run. This was sheep #1.
Unfortunate sheep #2.
So, after they were all killed, the skinning started. That was odd just because I’ve never seen it before. They’ll use the skins after they’re dried and cleaned for prayer mats.
The skinning process of one of the four sheeps. It takes awhile, but the kids are eager to help out. Unfortunately, I don't think they washed their hands before eating.
Then came time for gutting them, which was pretty gross. I got to see everything that a mammal is made of – the stomach, intestines, kidneys, liver, etc. – and hoped that one of those pieces wouldn’t be put on my plate later.
Thanks to Adama for posing and holding the sheep open while it's insides are removed. This photo is the reason that people are vegetarian.
I didn’t know how much 4 sheep would yield, but good God there was a lot of meat. Then a grill area was built and the grilling began, while the women added some of the meat to the lunchtime meal. It’ll take all day for the meat to grill and so I assume tonight it will eaten by someone. The nice thing about the communal style of living is that we’re not going to eat it all today. The family will portion it off and deliver it to less fortunate family members, acquaintances and friends. So, it’s a pretty good system.
So, like on Ramadan the afternoon and evening and the next two days will bring little kids dressed in the best, new and clean outfits coming around to all the concessions and singing or dancing a little bit in hopes of getting some candy or small coins. I played into this on Ramadan, but for each kid that calls me a Toubab, I’m actually going to take money from them. We’ll see how that works.
Happy New Year!
