Eid al-Adha

Today is the start of Eid al-Adha, the animal-slaughtering eid (as opposed to Eid al-Fitr which is more of the clothes-buying eid). It celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, but at the last minute being told he could kill a goat instead.

In Syria they mostly killed goats and sheep since there are relatively few cows there. The week before was strangely festive with everyone walking around with goats decorated with tinsel and spray paint.

Here in Dhaka they mostly kill cows, if they can afford it. Goat are the old stand-by. There are a few cows about with flower necklaces. Mostly though, they are au-natural. There is still a festival feel, although it is a bit more frenzied. Cow markets have sprouted all over the city. In the evening, food and gift stalls are set up around the cow markets. For most of the week, people have milled around staring. The markets have super loud speakers, just in case you didn’t notice that there were about 1,000 cows around the corner.

Trucks with cows have been rolling into the city almost constantly. In Dhaka there is a law that trucks are not allowed to enter city limits until after a certain time at night. I’m guessing that the exception was made for cow trucks because cows won’t fit on rickshaws. Isn’t that a great image though?

Yesterday people started buying cows and goats willy-nilly. Groups of happy Bangladeshis could be seen walking their cows home. I noticed that there was always someone in charge of holding the tail…not sure what that is about. Other people were seen leading along between one and 12 goats on ropes. Once home, the cows and goats were carefully washed and fed fresh hay and leaves. Last night there were 4 bulls and a goat parked in my parking garage!

Although I have lived in Muslim countries for the past 7 years, this is the first time I have been home during Eid since it usually coincided with Christmas or spring break. This morning I perched on my roof. A small gang of imams showed up on my street with their special swords at about 9:15. A league of butchers also came along. My street was cleaner than I’ve ever seen it. One of the bulls was led out of my parking garage. Four of the workers in my building tied up his legs and tipped him on his side. Once they had pinned him down and The imam slit the cow’s throat until the head was mostly severed from the body. There was a lot of blood, really foamy. They had positioned the bull next to a drainage ditch, which was smart. While the cow did his twitchy death throe thing and the blood drained into the ditch, the imam slaughtered 4 goats.

The butchering was really fascinating, and surprisingly quick. The butcher had a variety of machetes and knives and carved the beast up in about an hour. First they rolled the cow onto it’s back, slit the skin down the belly, then started skinning. They let the skin lay on the ground and use it to place meat that has been cut off until someone can carry it inside. The order went something like this: head, front left leg, ribs on the left side, stomach, heart and lungs, intestines, front right leg and ribs, other organs, back legs. Finally all that is left is the hide, which is folded neatly.

It was interesting to see a small crowd of bystanders throughout. As usual it was mostly men, but a few women lingered as they walked past. One father even brought his small child. The kid watched for a bit, but seemed to be more interested in the nearby puddle.

After the goats were slaughtered they were hung from a tree for butchering. It made me think of that bluegrass favorite “Nail that Catfish to the Tree.”

I didn’t see what happened to the cow parts once they were carried inside, but I’m guessing that they were carved further in the garage. Traditionally the cow owner keeps 2/3 of the meat and 1/3 is given to the poor. So for the rest of the afternoon, swarms of folks wandered around with plastic sacks collecting meat from the more well-to-do. Lauren quite aptly coined the phrase “trick or meat” to describe it.

This evening I discovered that there are still 2 cows parked in my garage. I had thought that all the slaughtering was done on the first day of eid (today). Maybe tomorrow is their “lucky” day.

Anybody feel like firing up the grill for some steaks?