Eid al-Adha: An Experience (photos)

It’s 4:30PM on Wednesday, October 16^th, 2013 and the scene in Rabat’s Medina can be best described as apocalyptic. Skulls roasting on the bonfires that run the length of Avenue Mohammad V, tangles of blood-stained fur lining the deserted streets and men with knives for arms walking home in shirts covered with the entrails of the slaughtered.

Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice honors the prophet Ibrahim’s obedience to God when asked to sacrifice his son, Isma’il. Just as he is about to sacrifice the boy, Allah came and gave him a sheep to sacrifice instead, a thank you to Ibrahim for his devout faith.

The preparations became noticeable a little over a week ago; the nail-on-chalkboard screech of knives being sharpened, fire starter being sold in the market for BBQ and the cries of sheep as they were wildly carted around the Medina. And at around 10:00AM on the 16^th, families began retreating into their homes for the sacrifice. 

It’s a lengthy process that takes the manpower of at least two or three. The sheep is held down and its throat is cut, releasing a strong stream of blood that seems to always find its way onto somebody. After the sheep dies, the head is removed and set aside while the rest of the body is hung up and skinned. The difference between a skinned and un-skinned sheep is dramatic. What once had a powerful presence and was large and horned and was the off-white color of a dirty polar bear becomes something half its size, sticky and pink and exposed. 

Once the sheep is naked, the innards can be removed, washed and saved. Many families choose to eat these parts of the animal for lunch later in the day. The rest of the carcass is left hanging overnight. It is taken down and butchered the next morning. 

It might seem archaic but one must consider the religious and cultural implications of the holiday. The slaughter is a tradition that is past down through generations and is symbolic of the Muslim’s deep devotion to their religion. They don’t waste any edible part of the animal; it is either consumed by the family or donated to the poor (it’s expected that every family donate at least a part of the animal they sacrifice so families that can’t afford a sheep can still participate). In this sense, the holiday is a chance for Moroccans to reach out to people, any people, and interact with them in a way that isn’t always possible during the repetitive grind of everyday life.  

It’s also important to note the immense joy this holiday brings about among people. Talk of Eid al-Adha begins weeks ahead of time, growing louder as the day nears. When the sheep arrives at the house it's an occasion, the children go out to feed it during it's final days on the terrace and the sacrifice itself feels more a celebration of life, love and religion than it does anything else.

By the time the sacrifice is over, preparations for lunch have began. Bread, dips and vegetables are set out while the sheep intestine, heart, liver and lungs are cooked. Loud chatter and laughs from surrounding terraces replace the cries of the sheep. And beneath the swinging carcass, the family comes together, gives thanks to what brought them there and digs in.

There are photos below but please know that they are very gruesome. Please, if you don’t like blood or decapitated heads or counted sheep as a child and still sometimes, on nights when you can’t fall asleep, picture those large and fluffy creatures hopping over a white picket fence, basking in what’s more a green and grassy sea than just a mere field, not harming anything or anyone, just waiting patiently for their turn to get to the other side of that fateful fence and soaring when it is, don’t look at them! Note the length of this warning. Also, ensure there aren’t any small children around. I’m going to put a lot of space between this paragraph and the next so you have time to decide.

You’ll note that the sheep in the first picture isn’t the sheep being slaughtered in the photos. This is because the photos are from the slaughter of another family’s sheep, which my family attended. After this sacrifice, we returned home to slaughter our own sheep.

I think it's good "journalism ethics" to point out that the knife was placed here purposefully by Mama Fatima (who has a keen eye for photography) for the sake of the photo.

Finally, my friend Sutton, who is a film maker, made this short documentary about Eid al-Adha and I narrated/wrote it (you will notice some striking similarities between what is written above and what is narrated in the film). Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF3R8PVPRDA