Hey you guys,
I want to warn you that these are going to be semi-gory pictures. So watch out, Tabaski images are not for the faint of heart! The rest of the pictures are great though, so skip quickly and look at the rest!
Two weeks ago was Tabaski (celebrated as Eid in most of the Muslim world). This is a holiday (I'm not quite sure for what) that people get together to kill and eat sheep. When us Americans got together to discuss it we decided it would probably be the best of Thanksgiving (the incredible amount of food that must be eaten) and Christmas (the sheep are the Christmas trees). It seemed to fit those two pretty well and there was a lot of family and friends over so it really got the holiday spirit going. Of course, the Christmas carols were replaced with recordings of people singing the Koran (which is not the same at all and just makes me miss the Christmas carols more - thanks mom for making me think that Christmas carols should have started up well over a month ago!)
A few days before Tabaski, we got one huge sheep (big sheep go for about 300 dollars). The sheep lived on the patio right outside my window so I heard the sheep burp (yes, burp) all night for just under a week. The Monday before Tabaski we got one more sheep. I then asked how many sheep we were getting and I was told we were getting seven sheep. I know you are all thinking, 'seven sheep?! What do you do with seven sheep?' don't worry, I still don't know what we did with seven sheep! Anyways, Tuesday at around midnight the other five sheep showed up and everyone told me which sheep was there sheep (and reminded me that I was not Muslim so I could not have a sheep).
The morning of Tabaski, the rest of the family went to the Mosque and did their morning prayers, after their second round of prayers ended (at about 10am) it was time to start the celebrations! The sheep came out one by one to the front patio where my host dad (the Imam) got a new set of knives (they have been more knife vendors in the past couple weeks than I have ever seen in my life!) and sliced the necks of the sheep. Baba was in charge of bringing the next sheep through the house and into the patio area. The first few sheep didn't seem to know what was going on but, sadly, the last few sheep were freaked out and knew what was coming. Most people said that at their family's houses the sheep died very quickly, at my house that wasn't the case and they were kicking and trying to breath for about 15 minutes each. I guess that is the problem with trying to rush through killing seven in a row. It got pretty messy.
I want to warn you that these are going to be semi-gory pictures. So watch out, Tabaski images are not for the faint of heart! The rest of the pictures are great though, so skip quickly and look at the rest!
Two weeks ago was Tabaski (celebrated as Eid in most of the Muslim world). This is a holiday (I'm not quite sure for what) that people get together to kill and eat sheep. When us Americans got together to discuss it we decided it would probably be the best of Thanksgiving (the incredible amount of food that must be eaten) and Christmas (the sheep are the Christmas trees). It seemed to fit those two pretty well and there was a lot of family and friends over so it really got the holiday spirit going. Of course, the Christmas carols were replaced with recordings of people singing the Koran (which is not the same at all and just makes me miss the Christmas carols more - thanks mom for making me think that Christmas carols should have started up well over a month ago!)
A few days before Tabaski, we got one huge sheep (big sheep go for about 300 dollars). The sheep lived on the patio right outside my window so I heard the sheep burp (yes, burp) all night for just under a week. The Monday before Tabaski we got one more sheep. I then asked how many sheep we were getting and I was told we were getting seven sheep. I know you are all thinking, 'seven sheep?! What do you do with seven sheep?' don't worry, I still don't know what we did with seven sheep! Anyways, Tuesday at around midnight the other five sheep showed up and everyone told me which sheep was there sheep (and reminded me that I was not Muslim so I could not have a sheep).
The morning of Tabaski, the rest of the family went to the Mosque and did their morning prayers, after their second round of prayers ended (at about 10am) it was time to start the celebrations! The sheep came out one by one to the front patio where my host dad (the Imam) got a new set of knives (they have been more knife vendors in the past couple weeks than I have ever seen in my life!) and sliced the necks of the sheep. Baba was in charge of bringing the next sheep through the house and into the patio area. The first few sheep didn't seem to know what was going on but, sadly, the last few sheep were freaked out and knew what was coming. Most people said that at their family's houses the sheep died very quickly, at my house that wasn't the case and they were kicking and trying to breath for about 15 minutes each. I guess that is the problem with trying to rush through killing seven in a row. It got pretty messy.
After that, the dead sheep were moved back into the back patio (which luckily the maids were in charge of cleaning the floor so that there was no more goat poop every where!). We then had two men that we hired and cut up the sheep. The blew air into the legs, pulled of the skin, and then with great order cut the meat. My host mom and her mom were deciding how big each piece should be and if it should be given out to the poor and extended family or if it was for us to keep. We then barbecued the heart and liver and at those with some mustard (not my favorite part of the day).
I then met up with some of the other students in the program that I've in my neighborhood and took some pictures in our new outfits. On that the back story to my outfit is that my host mom (who I don't quite get along with) gave me the outfit the night before to wear. I still have not figured out yet if she made it or just got it made. The material is silky and the colors of Thanksgiving. Just throwing it out there but I thought that it was over the top (and I think nothing is over the top). The pan (skirt) went down to my ankles if it was above my chest and the dress had medieval sleeves which just made me look too cool for school.
The rest of the day can be summed up with eating a lot of meat. I made a fruit salad and I had a big glass of unpasteurized, just out of the cow milk. Let's just say that much sheep and milk my stomach (two weeks later) has not come back to normal.
Thanksgiving (this part will be short) was great. I played with Serigne's kids - who I had not seen for a long time - and ate lots of good food. They had imported turkey, corn bread (that tasted more like cake), mashed potatoes and gravy, and plantains (just to remind us that we were still in Tanzania). The funniest part of the night though was the music that was being played. We got into the compound and we could already hear the pounding amps. We listened to so much American rap music that none of us knew what to do. When I am eating turkey and listening to the song 'Birthday Sex' there is a problem with Thanksgiving! All in all, a great time, though, missed all the family and the Segelhorsts.
This past weekend the whole class went on a huge trip up north. We left Friday and arrived late Friday to a desert! It was gorgeous and the first time I've seen one. We played around in the sand for hours and had a great time. A delicious dinner of fried chicken, cous-cous and veggies followed. The night ended with a huge bonfire and dancing around it. We slept in tents and continued our trip to the next spot at 6am.
Just over six hours later we ended up at a bird park. We put all 50 of us on a motor boat and went out birding. We saw some wonderful pelicans but other than that there was not a lot to see, since it was 1pm and nothing wants to be out then! It was a beautiful area and had a great time.
Another four hours later we arrive into the most beautiful town I've seen here. Saint Louis. It is gorgeous, the people are nice, the food was great! We walked around and discovered all the colorful pirogues, all the parties to celebrate some women that are going and coming back from Mecca. It was a great time. We had a good night out on the town (in short, a few of my friends went swimming in this not quite clean river). We then learned about the history of the area which is very colonial and makes any Caucasian feel very guilty about that.
After a long long drive home, I got home. School is starting to wind up with school work. There are now a lot of tests, papers, and exams coming up! Means I'm going to be back with you guys in less than three weeks!
All the best and miss you all,
Katie
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