Tabaski

All week the sheep around here have been running a muck, bahing all night long and keeping me up! These aren't the small fluffy sheep either. They're like big goats. It's ok though, they were sacrificed today for the Muslim celebration Tabaski. At 9 am, everyone went to the stadium to pray. This was one of the most beautiful things I've seen since being here. There were hundreds of families walking up to the stadium, dressed in their best clothes. The men wear brilliant solid colored long robes with pants and small hats on their heads. The women wear multi-colored fabric made into pagne or wrap skirts, shirts and shawls that wrap around their head and upper body. Many of my students were there and they greeted me. I took pictures with a couple of them. The men and women pray separately, so the men lined up in the front and the women and children in the back. I took a seat in the back to watch. The prayer readers' words in arabic drifted over to me , and I watched all the people move in unison to pray.

After the prayer, I went back to my compound. I waited in anticipation for the killing of the sheep. Two days before, my neighbors had purchased a large sheep that, after a struggle, they tied it to a tree in the yard to await its demise. Finally around 10 am, some men came and brought the sheep over to the designated place, right in front of my house. They dug a small hole and cut the sheep's throat over it so the blood would pour into it. Louise, my two neighbor girls, and I watched from front row seats- my porch. When the men were finished, we went over to the scene. The sheep wasn't dead. It was twitching and writhing, even though it's neck was cut open so much I could see into it's esophagus. I took a picture of all the proud kids and the sheep. After a couple minutes it stopped moving. Then they moved it on top of some roof tiles and proceeded to skin and disembowel it. This took over two hours. About an hour into it, we ate lunch. Sheep meat, sauce and rice of course. My neighbor's proudly presented me with two choice pieces, which I cooked that evening with some steak marinade I brought from home. The rest of the day, I visited people around town. They were all hard at work preparing their sheep as well. Looks like i'm going to be eating sheep for the next few days. It was a very nice day and I think I like the fete de mouton even better than Ramadan.