*Warning- This post is not for Vegetarians.
The mosque at Avanos.
Last week was Kurban Bayram, which in Arabic is called the Eid-al-Adha or Eid-el-Kebir. This is a religious holiday that celebrates Abraham’s obedience to God. He was told to sacrifice his son, which he was willing to do. At the last moment, after he had proved his faithfulness, the son was spared and instead a ram was sacrificed. Therefore this holiday celebrates a Muslim’s faith.
Today, each head of household is responsible for making a sacrifice. Usually it is a sheep, but it is also often a cow. The meat is shared with the family and neighbors as well as a portion given to the poor. Everyone prepares large meaty meals and it is a time when family and friends spend time together.
We chose not to remain in Ankara during this Kurban Bayram, because it happened to coincide with our Thanksgiving, which for Jim and I means a chance to get out of the city and do some sight-seeing. This time my sister was able to come visit, and we all went to Cappadocia.
One of the reasons we wanted to be out of the city is that there is a law which prohibits the sacrifice within the city limits. Last year, we didn’t even really realize what was going on at all. If you live in Ankara, and don’t travel to the country to be with family, then there are some areas where everyone goes to buy their sheep and have it sacrificed right there, then the family member brings the meat home. This is perhaps more aesthetic, but from what I understand, it doesn’t really have the same feeling attached to it.
At any rate, we wanted to be in a more rural area to see if our experience would be different. For some reason, I expected the sacrifices to be very early in the morning, and since we couldn’t eat breakfast at our pension until 8:00, we didn’t leave the hotel until almost 9:30. As I was standing there talking to Jim and waiting for the others, we were discussing how we still didn’t see any sacrifices. Seconds later I looked down to see a river of blood run right by my feet. The house next to the hotel had just done the deed.
Dog enjoying bayram.
After that we saw many families gathered to butcher the cows or sheep and start parceling out the meat for delivery. Everyone was very friendly and happy. You could tell everyone was working together to get the work done, start cooking, and enjoying being with each other.
Even the dogs enjoyed the day. We saw many enjoying their share. We even saw this one cute small dog that was proudly carrying his cow hoof to a safe location.