November 17th, 70 days after the end of Ramadan, is a Muslim festival called Idul Adha. It takes place during the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudia Arabia, which most Muslims hope to be able to do once in their lives. It commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ishmael at the command of Allah.As the story goes, just before Ibrahim follows through, God instructs Ibrahim to sacrifice a sheep instead.
So on this day, any individual, village or organization buys one or more sheep, goats or cattle to sacrifice and give to the poor. For many Indonesians, this along with the ending of fasting during Ramadan called Idul Fitri, are there only opportunities to eat meat.
At my apartment complex, money was collected and many animals were sacrificed right on our front lawn. After the animals were butchered (on the lawn) the meat was divided up and put in black plastic bags. The poor of every religion lined up in family groups and in their finest clothes to receive their portion.
The animals are sacrificed at the mosque as well and it must be done with a very sharp knife. Many Indonesians find this difficult to watch just like Westerners do, and only certain people do the sacrifice, because of their strength, skill and stomach for it. The animals don't appear to suffer as you can see in the following photos.
These photos were taken by one of our Indonesian teachers, who teaches Bahasa Indonesia. His name is Rusdawi, or Dawi for short. In Indonesia, it is not uncommon for a Muslim to have only one name. He went home to his ancestral village to celebrate with his family. As a boy, he was very poor and had meat twice a year during festivals. He was originally was in the shoe shine business, and then he was a gardener and driver for Jakarta International School faculty. He took classes in college at night, with the help of a JIS program and got his degree in teaching. He also has some land where he grows flowers and I bought a bouquet today from his wife and daughter.
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