Today was l'eid l'kebar, "the great feast" as people here call it. It is celebrated all over the Mus world, and we got to experience a little of it firsthand by just wandering around our usually quiet neighborhood.
Over the past week each family has been securing a ram and keeping it in their garage or some such place just for today. We have heard their deep-throated voices echoing off the concrete buildings of our street, late into the night.
This morning our neighborhood was a ghost town when we got up, as every Mus is expected to attend the morning prayer on this day. When they returned the father of each household would pronounce the name of his firstborn son over the ram and sacrifice it, in remembrance of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son (Ishmael, in their book) in submission to God. It is a joyous occasion as the ram is killed instead.
A few days before l'eid, a young man told me, "There will be lots of blood, my friend." I was imagining rivers of blood flowing down our street in the gutters. Turns out, it wasn't too bad. S and I went out for a walk in the late morning to see what we could see and around the first corner we saw our first ram. A family--father, mother, son--were busy with a ram that was hanging just inside their garage. The son and father smiled at us as we came near, S walking before me, holding my two fingers. We stood watching for a bit. I had no idea entrails could be that huge (and ooze something that gross). Moooving on....
Up the street a little further was another interesting scene. A makeshift barbecue pit along the curb, with cinderblocks and grates on top. Nice fire. What's on top? Ram heads. This apparently was where all of the ram heads from the neighborhood were brought for cooking. A new batch went off, another batch on every 10 minutes or so. A father would claim his ram head after waiting patiently, pay a few dirhams and head home. Yummy.
At the park adjoining this road, S and I joined a few young men I had met earlier in the week and they introduced me to a few more guys. Several spoke English so they used that and I, in turn, shared what little Arabic I have so far. We amused each other.
I asked several of the guys if they would walk with me to my house so they could see where I live and so that I could return S there for lunch. We then returned to the park and met a few more friends.
Eventually my family was issued an invitation for kebab by one of the guys, who,
after asking me if my family would come to his house for kebab (I thought the order was interesting), seemed to go inside his house (adjoining the park) and ask his mother if it would be okay. Before long he said, "Okay, it's time to eat. I will walk with you to your house and wait for you."
I sprung this invitation on B, S, and L and they obliged me. We dressed and headed back to the park, in response to our
first official dinner invitation, a momentous occasion, signaling a warm welcome and the promise of many more kind invitations to come.
The house was stunning, spotless, beautifully carpeted, beautifully tiled on both floor and wall, farashes glittering. We were taken to the upstairs balcony for sweet minty tea and sheep kebab. The meat, to the best of my knowledge was liver (almost positive) and heart (not as sure). The liver was wrapped in thin strips of fat and the heart was alone, but both seasoned wonderfully with spices and done to perfection. Delicious!!
I don't think I have ever seen S eat so much meat in one sitting...and he had
just finished eating at our house! Sitting on my lap, he was literally snatching the liver/fat combination out of my hand as it was jumping the gap from skewer to my mouth. Our kind host, the mother of my friend, was amused and honored by this.
The unfortunate ram was hanging from a rope just behind where we sat. The family will be eating from him over the next days and weeks. One person told us that, while typical people here only eat meat once a week, during this holiday many will virtually ONLY eat meat for four or so days.
We've been thinking a lot about THE sacrifice this week and lifting up the people here.
Settling in to a new world...
-P
