Bayramınız mübarek olsun!
Muslims across the world today are celebrating Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice. In turkish it is called Kurban Bayramı. The blood and candy flow freely today, and the feeling in the air is one of excitement and joy. The religious meaning is a rememberance of the sacrifice Abraham made after Allah spared Ishmael due to their faith and devotion to his commandmens. Eid al-Adha on wikipedia
A small child who lives in this building knocked on the door an hour ago. He wanted to give me a traditional greeting that a child gives an elder. He took my hand and kissed it, and then held it to his forehead. I know I'm supposed to kiss him on the cheeks afterwards but he ran off very quickly! I believe I should have given him some money or candy, but it happened quickly and I was quite unprepared.
Today is the day when you can walk outside in a Muslim nation and see people bending over a tied-up lamb or ram and slicing its throat.
In Turkey, the municipalities set up public areas where people can gather to do this - its quite bloody when you slaughter an animal and halal requires specific steps, and this was done to try and isolate both the mess and tourists from each other. In years past, I was told it was common to see a sacrifice taking place on every corner, but today I've only seen a few families sacrificing on their porches or on the side of their apartment building. The open lots reserved for bayram are *packed* with people and animals.
Islamic law requires that the throat of the animal is cut, leaving the spine intact, and the blood is then drained. Death occurs quickly this way. After the blood is drained, the head of the animal is severed and is lined up towards qibla (mecca) while the butchering occurs.
There are people walking home with buckets of meat, and children seem to be quite excited - judging by the amount of Bayram candy I saw for sale, the children are most likely looking forward to this and the feasts that will occur this evening, as well as seeing cousins and friends and having some time off from school. Family and friends gather together to celebrate the sacrifice and there is a sense of excitement about the event.
As a foreigner, this is about as...foreign..as it gets for me. In the west we are incredibly sheltered from the food chain, and I doubt any one who doesn't live on a farm has ever seen an animal slaughtered. There is great respect for the animal, but as this is my first time seeing such things, its definitely making me feel very odd and a bit wrong. Perhaps its because the head seems to watch over its own butchering. I can now hear singing outside and the laughter of children.
Of course any discomfort I feel means I'm a bit of a hypocrite as I can smell the feast beginning to cook in the kitchen and I'm quite looking forward to some very tasty food.
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