Idul Adha

So just the other day I went with two other bulè (white people) to see what the festival Idul Adha was all about. 

First a little background about Idul Adha.  The name comes from the arabic name Eid al-Adha, which when broken down into english means "Festival of Sacrifice"  This is a festival celebrated by Muslims around the world to remember Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to obey God, then God provided him with a sheep to sacrifice instead.  Eid is mentioned in the Quran.

For this festival in Indonesia people everywhere get goats and/or cows  to sacrifice.  They stake them out in front of their houses and guard them all night so nobody steals it.  Also going all night long are the loud speakers on the Mosque, there are continuous calls to prayer and chants in arabic coming from them.  Indonesias also enjoy fireworks throughout the night.  It can be tough to sleep on these nights.  Then in the morning everyone in the community gathers at the mosque and the sacrifice begins.  They cut the throats of each of the goats and cows, then each animal is skinned and the meat is destributed to the poor in the community. 

So as I mentioned earlier two other bulè and myself went out during the morning part of the festival to see what was going on.  Everything was actually much more calm than what I had expected it to be.  We got to the mosque early so we wouldn't miss anything and waited for people to show up.  Eventually a little crowd gathered around the mosque, the women with their children and some of the men with knives to either cut the throats or do the skinning.  After a time of prayer when some of the men went into the mosque to pray it was time for the sacrificing.  First a hole was dug in the ground and a board laid across the top.  This was the place where the neck of the animal was laid and their throats cut.  Once the animals were killed they were immediately strung up by their feet to be skinned. 

It was quite an interesting experience for me to see the practice of such an old ritual.  The Indonesians didn't seem to mind at all that we were there taking pictures.  Actually many of the men came up to us and said hi and one man even asked if we wanted to participate in the festivities.  We told him "No thank you".

These are the goats and one of the cows awaiting their fate.
This cow did put up a fight however by running around the tree and knocking over some Indonesians.

This is cow didn't put up a fight at all.  There is another picture of Bessy coming up later.

The Indonesian man in the green shorts is digging the hole over which the goats throats would be cut.

The festival was very much a family affair.

A group of Indonesian girls talking and laughing just before Bessy was sacrificed.

This is the street the mosque was on.  The mosque was to the left of the group of people further down the street.  The goats the cow were tied up under the blue tent to the right.

This was Bessy just before she was carried off.  She is laying amidst all the bent over Indonesian men.