The rythmn of life
Tomorrow is the last day of Kurban Bajram. In the Arabic world it is know as Eid ul-Ahda. People in Holland call it Offerfeest, which means something as Sacrifice Holiday. It is a religious Muslim Holiday, celebrated 70 days after the end of Ramadan. The holiday commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismael to God. For those who do not know the bible, don't worry: he ended up not sacrificing his son, because Abraham's willingness to do so, convinced God of Abraham's love for him. Instead of letting Abraham kill his son, he sent an animal to him, to kill and give to God. For those who do know the bible: indeed, the son celebrated at Eid is Ismael, and not Isaac, as is written in the Old Testament used by Jews and Christians. As is seen in so many situations in the Middle East now-a-days, there were different reports of the same event during the biblical times too....
On the first day of Kurban Bajram it is custom in Bosnia to slaughter a sheep, in remembrance of what happened thousands of years ago. My memory about this slaughtering goes back only one year ago. Last year during Bajram I had lunch at my favorite Bosnian restaurant called 'Kod Biban'. kod Biban is situated near Mount Trebevic, in the outskirts of town, and is overlooking Sarajevo. It was also the scene of the slaughter of the lambs, and since I remembered this, I went there with Elias Fels and 3 other friends. Rational behind this: know what you eat. In the days before Bajram we had seen sheep being sold all over town, and being transported on the backseats of Mercedes cars. This first day of the four days of Bajram, we saw it all, from the sheep being taken out of their shed, to the actual killing, to the stripping of their skin and the removal of their intestines, to the cutting the meat up to sheep/ lamb chops. After watching this for about an hour, we had lunch at Kod Biban. Basically, that day we were the impersonation of the food chain.
I have to say that the it surprised me that the butchering went so quick. It was obvious that the animals hardly suffered- there was simply not enough time for hem to do so. A lot of organisations have voiced their concerns about halal and kosher butchering. After seeing how it goes in practice, I share their opinion even less.
On the first day of Bajram, Saddam Hussein was hanged. My brother called me to tell it. As said, Bajram is in Dutch called Sacrifice Holiday. Colloquially it is called Butcher Holiday too. Thinking about the situation in Iraq, I am not sure which of the two names was more appropriate that day. Oh, irony.
On the first day of Kurban Bajram it is custom in Bosnia to slaughter a sheep, in remembrance of what happened thousands of years ago. My memory about this slaughtering goes back only one year ago. Last year during Bajram I had lunch at my favorite Bosnian restaurant called 'Kod Biban'. kod Biban is situated near Mount Trebevic, in the outskirts of town, and is overlooking Sarajevo. It was also the scene of the slaughter of the lambs, and since I remembered this, I went there with Elias Fels and 3 other friends. Rational behind this: know what you eat. In the days before Bajram we had seen sheep being sold all over town, and being transported on the backseats of Mercedes cars. This first day of the four days of Bajram, we saw it all, from the sheep being taken out of their shed, to the actual killing, to the stripping of their skin and the removal of their intestines, to the cutting the meat up to sheep/ lamb chops. After watching this for about an hour, we had lunch at Kod Biban. Basically, that day we were the impersonation of the food chain.
I have to say that the it surprised me that the butchering went so quick. It was obvious that the animals hardly suffered- there was simply not enough time for hem to do so. A lot of organisations have voiced their concerns about halal and kosher butchering. After seeing how it goes in practice, I share their opinion even less.
On the first day of Bajram, Saddam Hussein was hanged. My brother called me to tell it. As said, Bajram is in Dutch called Sacrifice Holiday. Colloquially it is called Butcher Holiday too. Thinking about the situation in Iraq, I am not sure which of the two names was more appropriate that day. Oh, irony.
posted by David Hein at 6:53 PM
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