Wednesday was the biggest holiday of the Muslim year, Eid lKbir, or in standard Arabic, Eid al-Adha. This is the feast that commemorates Ibrahim’s sacrifice of a sheep instead of Ishmael per the will of Gd. In Jewish and Christian traditions I think you may be familiar with a similar tale, different names/characters, Abraham and Isaac.
Here the holiday is celebrated by the slaughter of a sheep (or goat) and throughout the day/week all the parts of the animal are eaten. It’s like a never ending barbecue of sorts. Great time for sheep lovers, baaad time for vegetarians.
I was woken to early knocks on my door by parading youth. It is customary for the youth to greet neighbors, and people travel in general to bestow well wishes to family and friends. It’s a day of true celebration.
Days before the holiday I put extensions in Fatima’s hair (my first attempt ever) and she was sooo happy. The next day I cornrowed her younger sister, Selwa’s hair. It was great. I got to marathon watch Disney movies while I worked. I absolutely love that I have Beauty and the Beast on my laptop. I think I have watched that movie more times since I have been here than any other period of my life after I began middle school.
So, on the holiday my first stop was Aziza’s house. It was perfect timing, as soon as I got to the door Bouleka was there and called back to her mother “Hiya jat,” meaning “She’s arrived.” Apparently Aziza had just told her to go fetch me.
I stayed at their house until they slaughter the goat. I’ve been fairly desensitized to witnessing animal death. But really, it was not pretty. The neck was slit and bright red blood gushed like paint and out also came something brown and kind of looked like crap… but maybe it was cud? I don’t know much about animal’s internal systems. On the whole, it looked like a pretty quick death… until it started moving like a minute later in a way that didn’t look much like a spasm to me and I began to wonder if it were in fact still alive. And it became clear I wasn't the only one to have the same question. And that’s a big difference between kosher and halal. Kosher it’s supposed to be dead with that first cut for the sake of the animal.
Maybe dead goat?
From Aziza’s house I went to my homestay family’s house and watched them make skewers. It’s a lot of work and they taste really good. Typically comprised of the innards like liver, and heart, lung, stomach… The heart is actually really good. I’ve never been much a fan of liver. Lung is okay, I guess. Stomach is a crazy texture. The individual pieces of meat are often wrapped in fat. I don’t understand where the fat comes from on the animal. It’s like a big sheet. I think it’s the internal fat that’s technically not kosher. I does have great flavor when grilled though, lol.
After visiting my host family I went to visit the family of a girl I chose to go to summer camp (and whose little sister knocks on my door like allll the time). They are super nice and I wound up meeting them at their grandmother’s house and had a snack with them before going to Mohsin and Jalal’s house to top of the night in the most haram of fashions, with a screwdriver. And it was good. And then I went home.
The next day, I went back to the family of the girl who I sent to camp (Aicha) and had lunch. Unlike Aziza’s family, this family is of Mauritanian descent, meaning they are a native Arabic speaking family ( that is also to say non-Berber and non-black, though some of their cousins look "black/berber" so they're apparently mingling without reservation). While I was there I wound up putting fishtail braids in two of the six daughters hair. I went home in the afternoon and rested for a few hours and one of the sons came to my hosue to fetch me for dinner. But first we played dress up, and they tied the tradition wedding/formal happy occasion braids on me with a nice necklace and watch. We took lots of photos and it was a genuinely fun time.
In the customary attire of my region (in a nicer fabric than those worn daily) plus fancied up accessories
I like being around this family. They are light hearted and so genial. After dress up we went over to another relative’s house close by where the extended family and some neighbors were gathered, and I wound up putting two fishtail braids in a lady’s head before dinner. And I also showed a bunch of little kids how to make a star shape with string (cat’s cradle style) which was especially fun and fitting since my name means star. Dinner was a fabulous feast of couscous topped with A LOT of meat. My portion was the biggest portion of meat I have had in a single day probably since… since a long time ago in America.
Friends of their extended family
Unfortunately, I had been battling a cold that week and the next day I struggling to retain my voice and get over the shock of having so much meat in my system. I’ve been in hiding/recuperation mode ever since. Today I barely had a voice until nightfall but luckily my stomach is pretty much back to normal. I hope to be up to at least 75% by the time I wake up tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!
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