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3/5/01:
The feast is a celebration of the substitutionary sacrifice of a sheep
for Abraham's son Ishmael (in the Bible's version, it's Isaac). If
they can afford a cow, often families will hire a professional butcher
to come and do the job, but there are only so many butchers to go around.
So this family hired a couple of laborers. The cow's nostrils were
stopped to subdue it as they brought it to the ground. As they held
it still, they recited a prayer of thanksgiving. Then the cow's throat
was slit, allowing the blood to drain out of it as the heart continued
to pump (video - 8 sec.). It took
the animal about five minutes to die. Then head and hooves were removed,
it was skinned, the organs were removed, and it was carved into parts and
hung (video - 5 sec.). The family keeps
some, but most of the meat is given to the poor and other family members
as they visit each other. We've seen one sacrifice - that's enough
for this year.