When I woke up last week Wednesday, I had no idea what I was about to experience.
The Eid Al Kibir is the biggest holiday for Muslims. Think of Christmas times ten. They close down shops for days, travel to see family, and eat, eat, eat. It is a time to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac before God provided Abraham with a ram instead. So… families get together and slaughter a lamb. Most kill a lamb, but the more wealthier families kill a cow or a lamb, or both.
Since I spent the night at the Deboer's house, we decided to go for a walk in the morning. People have to wait until the king kills a lamb; he is suppose to be the first one. So we are walking down the street and we see their neighbors waiting for the butcher to come down. So we talked with them for a bit. Well, they talked French and I stood there and tried to look interested. We said we would walk down the street a little farther and then come back when the butcher showed up. A couple houses down there was a big family, probably 20 to 30 people, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, and they had a cow.
Yes, a large cow was in their front yard, butcher ready to slaughter it. They were renting the house for the holiday and invited us in to watch. Just think about Christmas day, sitting around about to open your presents and a family wants to sit in your living room and watch you. Anyways, the butcher was there and he killed the cow and blood was everywhere. Two or three of the men were helping out as well. The women and children stood by us on the steps and watched. They first cut off the head, then they skinned the cow, and then gutted the thing. It was so bloody and gross. I took a lot of photos. I might post some of them. So that whole process took about 40 minutes. They invited us in to eat with them but we said we had to go across the street with the other family. Thank goodness, we would have been there all day if we stayed.
This family got the sheep one month ago and kept it in their front yard, it was a husband , wife, and son, no extended family. They were still waiting for the butcher to come when the men of the family across the street came over and said they would kill it for them. The families had never met but the men said they wouldn't mind killing the sheep. Afterall, they just got done killing a cow. I was so surprised how clean the killing of the sheep was compared to the cow. There was hardly any blood. It reminded me of Issiah 53:7, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” It was almost like the sheep knew what was going to happen and didn’t move or make any noises
While watching the sheep die, the wife invited us in for tea. After refusing for about 10 minutes we gave in and went inside. The kitchen was on the ground level, right inside of where they killed the sheep. Then they decided to hang it right in the doorway to the kitchen. I have never had tea in a place that had smelled so bad. It was worse than the petting zoo at John Ball. But we didn’t want to be rude, so we sat there and drank tea while watching the men gut the sheep. Two hours later, we left.
Later on we drove through one of the poorer parts of town. Street corners had fires on them because the men were burning the heads of the sheep. I think they burn it and then eat it. The people eat everything of the sheep. On the first day they eat head parts, the liver, and other gross things. Then they eat other parts on the second and third day.
It is moments like this that make me so glad I’m living in Morocco. When will I ever get a chance to see a cow and sheep slaughtered? I will never be able to do something like that in Allendale, MI. It is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.
