Last week was the week of Tabaski, a massive Islamic holiday here in Senegal. The celebration is to commemorate the sacrifice of Abraham. Each muslim family purchases a male sheep to kill and eat on Tabaski. A professor here described it as a day long Senegalese BBQ. The weeks leading up the Tabaski, the streets of Dakar were filled with sheep wherever there was space. Below is a picture of a field, usually empty, that I walk through on my way to school. All of the sheep farmers from the surrounding areas come into the city to sell sheep for Tabaski.
My family is catholic so I spent the day with Nate's family, who are my neighbors. The day started with all of the men in Nate's family putting on there Bobo's (traditional Senegalese formal clothing) and heading to the Mosque. When I arrived at Nate's house I was surprised to find 5 sheep tied up in his court yard! I was expecting there only to be one, however many extended relatives came, each brought an additional sheep.
Within a matter of minutes all the men of the house returned from the mosque and changed into work attire. The house was similar to many traditional senegalese houses are fairly open with a tiled courtyard with multiple smaller buildings containing the kitchens, bedrooms, and restrooms. Located in the center of the courtyard was a drain, where we soon slit the throats of each sheep. The killing involved only the men who tied the legs of the sheep, one person holding the head/horns, two on the body, one holding the neck, and finally the man slitting the throats.
After killing 5 full grown sheep in the courtyard, groups of two males started processing the sheep right away. I personally helped out Nate's host brother Ibou dress one of the medium sized sheep, there was one massive sheep that a profession came to process. The senegalese used most of the animal parts, the head was saved for soup, liver was cooked, intestines were cleaned and saved, hide was going to be made into leather, and fat was hung out to dry. The dressing of the sheep consisted of me holding various body parts while Ibou used a machete. However, the heads are too large to put into pots so me and nate comically tried to cut of one of the sheep heads, to much amusement of the family.
During this process the women had cut up an enormous amount of potatoes, onions, and had started 3 or 4 coal stoves in preparation of the meal. Before we had even finished processing the sheep, meat was being thrown on the grill and being served to us, we first had to awkwardly decline so we could wash our blood and fur covered hands. From killing the sheep to eating the sheep took about 3 hours. The rest of the afternoon, the men washed up and rested while the women cleaned up the courtyard, 5 sheep had just been butchered where the party was going to be held in a matter of hours.
Lunch was ate around 4:30 pm, the men and women ate separately, but we both ate lots of grilled sheep, fries, bread, and mustard. A meat and starch heavy meal but was complimented with a homemade smoothie made with mystery Senegalese fruits.
After lunch, cooking and cleaning resumed and slowly more and more family members and neighbors showed up, all wearing over the top Senegalese traditional clothes. It felt like prom but with colorful and waxy Senegalese clothes. The rest of the night at the house comprised of talking, eating, drinking, and lots of children. The children on Tabaski run around from house to house asking for money or candy, similar to Halloween. Dinner was exactly the same as lunch, but with much more food. I ate more meat that day than any other in my life.
Unfortenatley the night didn't end quite as joyous as the rest of the holiday. A group of K students got together at a restaurant/bar nearby to see each others outfits and share our Tabaski experiences. Myself and four others left around 2am to head home on foot. When we entered the neighborhood where me and Nate live, we were stopped by three Senegalese men, two with very large machetes. In wolof they told us to empty our pockets. Lucky for me, it was dark and I was in the back, so I was able to toss my wallet under a nearby car without being seen. When my fight or flight instincts kicked in I decided not to run but take a moment and save the item I cared about the most. However, they did grab by camera and Senegalese phone. Another friend of theirs then rode by on a motorcycle and they all took off. Due to this event I lost my Tabaski photos, I asked for my memory card when they took my camera but I couldn't effectively ask in French or Wolof and was not successful.
Here are some pictures I took before Tabaski when the K group took a tour of Dakar the weekend before.
No comments:
Post a Comment