Eid Mubarak

---

I have a LOT to say about the last weekend, however I have to write fast because I have a cold and I just took Nyquil, I want to get this finished before I fall asleep....

Firstly, a week ago we had our CIEE culture party at my Resident Director's house. It was amazing, we all wore traditional clothes, ate couscous, got to dance with bellydancers, and got henna done for the first time. My Director's two year old daughter also got henna done, and it was hysterical because it was only on her palms, and she was clearly not content waiting for it to dry. They eventually had to bribe her to wait longer by adding small amounts of glitter to her hands every once in a while, but it did not change the look of pure distaste on her face. Once her hands were dry she was dancing for all of us to "Call me maybe" which was absolutely adorable. She was pretty much the highlight of that party. I should mention that this house has about 30 people who are constantly there, and no one really knows who exactly lives there. Whenever I go over I see a lot of the same people, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me who the residents of the house are. It includes about 10-15 women, their husbands, and a million kids from newborns to 20years old. I found out that the man who owns the house has 8 siblings and half of them also live there with their families, so it is essentially a giant family Moroccan mansion. It's such a cool environment because of the interactions between all of these people, and we refer to it as "Dar Kabeera" (Big House).

For the rest of this week we were preparing for the upcoming Eid. I described it in a previous blog, but essentially it is about the story of Abraham and Ishmail, and each family, if they can afford it, buys a sheep to slaughter out of tradition. I went outside to find 2 sheep and 1 goat in the backyard monday morning. On wednesday, two more sheep appeared. My family slaughtered the goat on Thursday, the eve of the Eid. They told me to sleep in late Friday morning as the slaughtering of the 4 sheep would happen at around 10 am. I woke up the next morning when I heard music, but blocked it out and fell asleep. I got out of bed at about 1pm and texted my sister to get the "all clear". I came out to eat lunch and was taking a sip of my coffee when I realized the dead goat was wrapped in plastic about five feet from me on a table in the kitchen, and that was pretty much the end of my appetite. (Although I want to make it very clear that my family is SO respectful of my vegetarianism and my beliefs on animal rights, and they do everything they possibly can to make me comfortable). The sheep were hanging in the garage, but when it came time to leave to go to Dar Kabeera, they hid them so I wouldn't have to see. It's really nice that we can act harmoniously with such different beliefs during this holiday. When we got to the Dar, I went to kiss everyone hello, and say Happy Eid. When I got to the kitchen to greet the ten or so women working there, they all had sheep legs on their laps. I, as quickly as I possibly could, kissed everyone and evacuated myself from the area.The Dar Kabeera had nine sheep in total and the slaughtering process took two hours in the morning. Everyone was hard at work preparing different parts of the sheep and the entire family was in good holiday spirits. Other than my obvious sensitivity to the slaughter aspect, it was a really nice atmosphere. I later decided to try and step out of my comfort zone and watch my brother and his friend saw the skulls in half in order to access the brains, which were to be cooked and eaten as well. I was able to watch this process and only felt a little nauseous after, and my host mom stayed by to make sure the boys did not chase me with the heads or anything. (These boys are all around my age so of course they would end up chasing me and the other girls with dead sheep parts). The meal the women prepared was essentially a fancy plate of couscous with the sheep's head in the middle. The sheep meat is not eaten until the day after the Eid, however, so we waited until Saturday for the couscous. One thing I really appreciate about this holiday is that Moroccans really do use ALL of the parts of the sheep. Nothing is wasted, and none of the sheep see the others being harmed. It is overall a very humane process and is so much better than our industry in the USA. A few of my friends still had trouble eating the sheep meat, though, having seen it when it was alive. Overall, it was definitely one of the most eye-opening experiences I have ever had. Happy Eid!

---