Well I hope those of you who object to this sort of thing took my warning seriously. I feel very privileged to have taken part in such an important and intimate holiday with my host family.
Basically, Eid Kabir is the feast of the sacrifice. You can look up that sacrifice reference in the Koran, or the Bible for that matter. Anyway, to celebrate the sacrifice, Muslims slaughter a ram that is at least one year of age. The sheep must be killed in the hallal way, meaning cutting its throat and allowing it to bleed to death. After that, the sheep is skinned, gutted, and hung up. One hind quarter is cut off to be made into a yummy fried sort of dish. The other hind quarter goes to charity. All but one part of the sheep (I can’t remember which part that is) is used, including the head, the feet, and the guts.
In the days leading up to Eid Kabir, every single house in Tunis had a sheep tied up outside or on the balcony or in the bathroom or somewhere nearby. The entire city smelled of sheep and rung out with the baas of many a ram. We had three in our laundry/pool house for a couple of days. One was for my family, one was for my host dad’s mom, and one was for my host mom’s mom. I don’t think our maid liked having her workspace taken over by three sheep!
As you can see by the pictures, I helped kill and dress out the ram. I was born and raised on a farm so I’m fairly used to such things. I wouldn’t suggest doing this at home if you aren’t used to slaughtering animals. For me, it was a very informative and interesting experience. The sheep didn’t appear to experience much pain and died peacefully. And without further adieu, here are some photos!
