These sort of mornings are always great. Fresh bread coming out of a clay oven, good company and sunshine really start the day out right. This morning I awoke to sunshine too, thankfully. We have had about a week of rain and grey, I was looking forward to a sunny day.
About an hour into the bread cooking my favorite 11 year old, Yousef comes running in to tell us its cow killing time. I grab my crystal light and head on over. This was a big mistake, I definetly should have left my red Crystal light at home. By the time I get there, they have just slit its throat and the blood is draining everywhere. There are not a lot of redeeming things about watching a cow get cut up into a million pieces but at least its fast for the cow. Muslims believe in Hilal, a particular way of killing an animal, so that it experiences as little pain as possible. At least this cow didn't suffer.
About 30 of us from the village watched the 7 or 8 men cut apart this cow, like they had been doing this their whole lives, which they probably had. If you were to give me a cow and tell me to kill it I would have no idea where to start, they seemed to have this down to an art. Each man had his particular role and followed it nicely. It only took about 20 minutes to go from live cow to just the meat hanging there. Most of the women were standing inside, I didn't realize that, but I probably should have. There were a couple of times I thought I might have to run away and vomit, but the good news is I got through it and once the skin was gone, it looked less like the friendly cow I had taken on a walk only a day earlier. I am glad I got through it because Eid el Kebir (literally, the big holiday) is coming in November and each family kills a sheep, now I know I can get through it.
Seeing the cow was sort of like an anatomy lesson on the inside of a cow. I couldn't believe how large its internal organs are, especially the stomach and heart. The good news is that disgusted face during the entire process sets me up for a good excuse to only eat the "meat" sections, getting me out of having to eat heart and brain and tongue and intestines.
When the slaughter was finally calming down and the internal organs were removed, I headed inside and found all of the women hiding from the nastiness that was outside. They immedately asked me why I didn't come inside with them and the truth is that I don't have a good answer because I didn't know that not watching was an option. We chatted about the killing and whether or not I was going to eat any of the meat and then talked about parties in America. They didn't beleive me that we didnt all go together buy a cow and then kill it. They don't beleive a lot of what I tell them is true in America, to be honest. Maybe one day, Inshalla, they will :)
For now I escaped the clean-up the blood and organs party and have retreated back to the bread ovens where the only thing getting slaughtered is the mint tea and the olive oil, both of which I am okay with.
The men organizing this shindig took the next couple of hours to divide up this giant cow, making little piles of cow on these big tarps. As it turns out, nearly 200 families/ individuals donated 30dh a piece and they get a big helping for their contribution. At then end of the day, each family had their plastic bag full of beef and the wild dogs had the rest. There was literally nothing left of the cow.
The next morning I woke up to singing and chanting coming from the mosque. Today was definetly party day. Little by little the women brought their plates of beef cous cous to the gathering area, left their husbands and headed inside. Around 1pm the feast started. Everyone gathered around tables and dug in. There was such a feeling of friendship and community and I was grateful to be a part.
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