Happy Howli Day!

I should have known it would be an interesting family holiday when i walked down the front stoop to see sheep blood and flesh running swiftly down the gutter. Oh my, I thought to myself, what a way to end this semester.

For weeks all Moroccans (and Muslims in general) have been preparing for one of the biggest Eid's (holiday) of the year. It is the sheep holiday (Howli is sheep in arabic). EVery year, every family who can slaughters one ram (it cant be castrated because apparently you get sick from castrated meat...hmmm not really sure how accurate that is but i went with it) in honor of the Abraham and Isaac story.

For those of you who dont know this story (wasnt sure this was possible until my own mother informed me she had no idea what i was referring to), Abraham was asked by God to kill his son Isaac to show his faith. Abraham took Isaac up to a hill and was about to sacrifice him when (according to the Koran) Isaac was turned into a sheep or (according to the Bible) God said no, here is a sheep instead.

DUring the last week, there were herds of sheep all over RAbat. THere were even small groups of them in the little strip of grass between lanes on the highway. All of the children get really excited to pick out their sheep and theyall go leaping to the herds to pick their victim. Unfortunately, most of the kids become attached to the sheep in the ensuing days and become very distraught at the death. Many Islamic families go into debt just to buy the all-important sheep. Once they pick out their sheep, they transport it to their houses using any number of methods. Perhaps the funniest was a man on a motorcycle holding a sheep on his lap and driving up the road. I couldnt get my camera out in time to take a picture of this strange spectacle, which was probably the most dissapointing point of my trip.

On the day of the Eid, everyone got up early to watch the Imam of Morocco and the King slaughter their sheep on TV. No one is allowed to slaughter the sheep until the Imam and King have done so. In an interesting show of power the sheep of the King was absolutely the most massive sheep I have ever seen. I kind of felt this was kind of appropriate and very funny. We went to Temara for the event. I thought that everyone would be watching the killing and that it would be this big deal, but it wasnt like taht at all. EVeryone just hungout in the yard or in the kitchen and one by one, with no order in particular i dont think, the brothers went out to kill their alotted sheep. Thus, this year we slaughtered 6 sheep. i watched one slaughtering but that was about it. THe butcher holds the sheep down and then a brother would come over, say a few lines of the Koran and then (with a very sharp knife) take a single swipe at the throat and the sheep promptly dies. THen the butcher strings up the sheep in the mandarin trees and skins them in an incredibly short amount of time. AT one point there were 6 sheep hanging upside down from the tree.

When all the slaughtering is done we ate lots of sheep, including tripe, stomach fat kebabs and ribs. During the day many poorer families who could not afford to sacrifice a lamb come by the house and are served a meal.

All the English speakers spent the restof the evening playing board games next to a roaring fire. Quite a lovely way to end this fantastic semester.