Vegetarians and anyone who can't stand the sight of blood - look away now

It was bakra or goat Eid here last week, or officially known as Eid Ul Azha, the celebrations after Haj.
At the end of the pilgrimmage a goat for every pilgrim was slaughtered or should I say sacrificed in the name of God. For many years every last animal was killed then thrown into a giant pit! Now thanks to refridgeration and air travel, the meat gets distributed to charities in parts of Africa, or so I'm told. As in all things Islamic every last act, how the animal is slaughtered, what you say before you slaughter it, how the meat is distributed, who is should be distributed to, its all in the book.

 Its the first time I have been in Pakistan for Bakra Eid for a very long time. Nothing much changes except I was actually able to watch the the sheep being slaughtered - saying that I did feel pretty nauseous watching my 4th or 5th in a row. As a total of 18 sheep are going to the slaughtered, 11 for our family, 6 for one Uncle in Saudi and 1 for another Uncle,  so I decide to go in for breakfast - the house record is actually 24! That was messy.

I have video footage of the day but a salesman at Jessops sold me not one but two camcorders that are not compatible with my Mac so I have to wait to edit and make a film of the day! I am sure you are all desperate to see the horrors!







Nadir has been up since 7 am as all the men go to the mosque for morning prayers, then begin the killing when they get back. My brother cuts the neck of his own sheep, the proper way to do it and a greater blessing. The modern way is to get the servant to bring the knife to you, while you are having breakfast, bless it and get the butcher to do the rest.


All the action is in the garage and the space soon fills up with all the guys who work for us or have worked for us. They sit outside waiting to be fed the meat and bread, then they all get given meat to take home to their families. 

There are three huge saucepans laid out on some industrial plastic. The meat is cut in a certain fashion and divided, into, meat for charities outside the home, meat for those you personally know are in need and finally for friends and family.

Years ago we would get dressed up in our finest, Eid outfits, grab a load of goats legs, shove them in the boot of the car and visit friends and relatives. Just outside their homes, we would leap out, freshen ourselves up, grab the tray, open the boot, shove a leg of meat on the tray and daintily cover it with a cloth. One leg down only 20 more to go! Sadly we would be given meat by our hosts, so the meat score remained even.

The sheep's skins gets sold to tanners and the money given to charity, so the skinning is a very skilled part of the whole process. I loved watching the butchers are work, with complete concentration and knives that they were frequently sharpening. 

The kids finally got up and I was pretty hesitant about showing Aliyah the gruesome scene, its nothing new for Anisa and Noorah. Aliyah watched non-plussed at the sheep's neck being cut wide open and the blood gushing out onto the concrete floor of the garage. Her every matter of fact observation was 'Why are they cutting the sheep's neck'- that was it, the why question rears its ugly head and it keeps bouncing back to you every time you think you have nailed the question,'but why????

Its now about 4pm in the afternoon and a lot of the work has been done. The girls are dressed up in their Eid best princess outfits and are a bit bored. So where do we find them? Sitting in a row with my brother watching.........

 This...
The final carcass having its intestines removed. The why questions keep coming form Aliyah.