You will remember the story of Isaac and Abraham in the Old Testament. God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham was about to do that, when God told him to stop and instead sacrifice a sheep. (I think it was a sheep) The members of the Islamic faith also share the story of Abraham and Isaac, and once a year they literally do what God asked Abraham to do in the end: they slaughter animals of all kinds on the day of Eid. Those who can afford to do so go out and buy larger animals, such as cows, while many others will buy sheep. They are supposed to donate 1/3 of the meat from the animals to the poor while keeping the rest for themselves. Those who are wealthy are expected to buy many animals and to donate the meat to the poor.
Today, (Monday) is the day of Eid, but already 10 days ago farmers were bringing truckloads of animals right into the heart of the city where they were kept in makeshift pens until this morning. All along Schutz Street one could see cows tethered along the street or sheep crowded into the pens. Right outside the gate of the school there were two cows standing alongside the parked cars.
Today, at about 7:00 I went out for a walk to see what the "sacrificing" was going to look like. I didn't actually stick around for the killing, but I did listen to the "pre-game" prayers during which time people got out there prayer carpets and knelt, bowed and stood for a total of about 30 minutes. I'm not sure what they were saying, but I think the prayers may have had something to do with giving thanks for the food being provided for them. Shortly after that, as I went on a seaside walk, the killing began, right out there on the streets. As I say, I didn't actually see any of the "sacrificing", but I came upon some of the bodies of the animals on my way back to school. I've included a few pics of what I saw--before and after.
The photos at the bottom were taken from the roof of our apartment building. Just across the street from us there is a pigeon house, and the man who raises them also trains them for sport. We've just recently learned a bit about this sport. Apparently it's been going on for hundreds of years throughout this country. I don't know that much about what all is involved, but the other night we got together with one of the teachers who has lived here his entire life, and he gave us some details.
One of the things we see this man doing is waving a flag back and forth after he releases the birds in the late afternoon. That, apparently, gives the pigeons some types of signals as to where they are supposed to fly. He also whistles, and that too, is a type of signal to them.
One aspect of the sport, according to this man, is that owners try and capture other people's pigeons by using female pigeons to lure another owner's male pigeons. What they do is they send a female pigeon out by herself. She flies towards the "enemy" cage. Perhaps a couple of the opposition's male birds will go off after her. At that point the female pigeon's owner sends out the calvary (the rest of his birds) The flock surrounds the male "visitors" and force them to fly back to the roost. Eventually, I guess, the "prisoners" will be released and sent back home, but I suppose there is an official or unofficial "scoreboard and the guy who "won" gets bragging rights or something like that..... Anyway, it's been interesting to watch the birds flying around.
That's all for today....
Baa, Baa and Bye Bye to the Sheep----
No explanation needed----The after
Not a pretty sight
The before--Cows on Schutz Street
View from the roof of our building
Another roof-top view--Building across from us...Gives you an idea of how we are right up against the other buildings in the neighborhood. You can look into the windows of the apartments and see people eating at supper time, for instance.
You see the Prince of Pigeons waving his flag at the birds.
Back home after some much-needed exercise
Another flag shot
Life is For the Birds
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