Eid Mobarak! (Congratulations)

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY MORE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE KILLING SHEEP!!!" Wailed Kendra the other day. For every few minutes along the entire way to and from Meknes we had seen someone carrying, pulling along, or driving home their chosen sacrifice. "OK, honey, we won't talk about it any more today" I promised. I could have said, ". . . but tomorrow we get to go to Lotfi's house and watch a sheep get his throat slit, bleed to death, be chopped apart and then we get to eat the brain, liver and kidneys!" Wisely, I decided to withhold this information from her.
On the 10th day of the Muslim month of Haj falls what Muslims call Eid Adha - the celebration of the sacrifice. During the month of Haj, Muslims from around the world travel to Mecca on a pilgrimage. While there they do many reenactments all from the life of Abraham. The most important one is the sacrificing of a sheep in commemoration of when Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son (they say Ishmael, we say Isaac - so here when we talk about it we say "son"). On the same day this is done in Mecca, all other Muslims around the world also sacrifice a sheep, lamb or goat (the low fat item on the menu) as an act of solidarity and remembrance.

When Abraham had shown the faith to do this act of ultimate obedience believing his son would be raised from the dead, God stopped him and showed him a ram in the thicket. Abraham sacrificed the ram as a substitute. Although we place great significance on this story - the ram being a foreshadowing of Jesus himself taking our place and paying the penalty for sin - Muslims at least here do not seem to in the discussions we have had. They say that it is simply a story they remember. "Oh yes"- said our host - "and you are to forgive everyone too on this day." Since their prophet had heard many of the stories in the Old Testament from the Jews and Christians who surrounded him, many of the same stories are in their book, but often are in a different order and not held together by the deep significance and meaning behind them. Often people tell us they have no idea why they are celebrating a certain holiday. From others we have heard the lamb bears their sins and their sins die with the sheep. Remind you of anything? But here, we have never heard this explanation.

One thing Muslims are to do before the sacrifice is to befriend the sheep - get attached. They (especially the children) are to feed it a special meal, pet it and love it. This way when they kill the sheep - it is truly a sacrifice.

Above is Gerald pictured standing next to the carcass holding the fat of the sheep. Notice the head, hoofs and skin at the bottom left. Mercifully since Lotfi never told us when to come, we missed the actual killing and came when things were mostly cleaned up. Kendra seemed to be able to handle that.

Here Gerald helps Lotfi wrap pieces of barbecued liver in strips of fat to cook for kebabs. Later we also ate the heart and the kidneys, but thankfully this particular family does not eat the brain! In case you ever find yourself in a situation where you would rather not eat the food placed in front of you, here are a few tips:

1. Drink a lot of water.
2. Eat a lot of bread - and make sure you are chewing it and smiling every time the host looks at you.
3. Only eat when the host is looking at you.
4. Either take tiny bites of your the food that makes you unhappy, or, if the host is really watching you, take a big bite and and wash it down like a horse pill.
5. Eat lots of the sides.
6. Smile happily, sit back, and pronounce you are full and happy.

These most excellent tips meant that I got away with exactly 1/2 piece of liver and one piece of heart or kidney. Gerald, on the other hand, ended up eating two whole skewers of something. He definitely gets the prize!

During the next two days of Eid, they will get into the meat part of the sheep. Every nuclear family must sacrifice an entire sheep or goat, so that means there are a lot of people giving meat away to those who cannot afford a sheep since most people do not have refrigerators. Many have a terrible time affording the sheep - we have heard some buy it on a monthly payment plan with 600% interest! But there is great pressure from tradition for every family to sacrifice although this is not written in their book.

Here we are all together right before we had to go. Lotfi is a carpenter who has made several things for us. But his passion has been to connect people from other cultures to Morocco by forming an organization called "Cultures Bridge." Through it he has hosted and organized many tour groups and film-making crews. He is an amazing man with huge dreams and many projects already started. His lovely wife, Roqia, is a real sweetheart and they are truly in love with each other - something we do not notice here very much. With six beautiful children from the age of twelve down to nine months, the house is never boring! Their landlord has told them they have to move out so they are trying to find another place to live. They are a very special family to us and it was wonderful to spend Eid with them!