Festival of Sacrifice

...also known as Eid al-Adha, Tabaski, or in Bambara: Seliba. The Festival of Sacrifice is a Muslim celebration of the remembrance of the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac to God (also found in the Bible). This is a rather big celebration in the Muslim world and carries the same kind of weight Christmas does in the Christian world. The Festival lasts three days and almost everyone takes the days off from doing work.

On the first day everyone gathers for a prayer service in the morning, and at the end a ram is slaughtered by the imam in front of the entire assembly. After the ceremony, every family returns to their own household, where the male heads of the household slaughter their own ram and whatever number of male goats are required to provide enough meat for the family for eating during the next two days and as gifts for friends. My estimation is that on the first day of Seliba, at least 200 rams and probably another 300 or so male goats met their end all within about an hour of eachother just in my village alone.

The animals are slaughtered, the meat washed and portioned, and then the men immediately start grilling the choicest portions for consumption. After a first round of meat everyone switches gears and eats a lunch typically of rice and sauce. Then you go back to grilling meat. At this time groups of kids from other families start to show up and present special Seliba greetings (not unlike Christmas caroling), for which they are usually given portions of uncooked meat to take back to their families. Groups of women will also go around and provide special greetings, for which the customary gift is a small amount of money. The remainder of the day is spend hanging out and socializing.

On the second day the family again gathers in the morning for a large meal, and then a round of cafe`. The rest of the day is spent socializing. At about 4 pm all the young men in village bring out their (or their dad's) motorcycles and proceed to zoom through the village in a loop at incredibly irresponsible speeds. Any number of imaginable positions are assumed for riding in order to impress the crowds that come out to watch. Mothers keep their toddlers from being run over. Men clap and cheer for wheelies. There is even a small parade where men stand in the back of a cow cart and throw little candies. The cows are draped in the most elaborate, oversized prayer mats. There are also a few young men dressed up in ridiculous outfits riding donkeys with guns strapped to their backs. The donkeys get startled by the motorcycles racing past them on crowded, narrow streets. At some point a yound motorcycle driver will misjudge the stability of the sand he is driving on and lightly run into a wall for several feet, before gently crashing, picking up his motorcycle and his dignity, and then continuing on. The general cheer is so great that when a motorcycle eventually does run into a small child, allegedly breaking the kid's arm, the mood isn't spoiled. The parents simply make a splint for the arm out of pieces of wood and some cloth. No doctor or pain meds needed as this is Seliba and the doctor isn't in town anyway (he's back home in another village celebrating with his family). Day three is a repeat of day two.

Everyone has special clothes made out of expensive fabrics. The women and girls have their feet dyed with something like henna and their hair done up with only the best fake hair extensions money can buy. Make-up can even be spotted.

It truely was an amazing experience.