Corban

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Today was the Islamic Corban Festival. Since there is a significant Muslim population in Xinjiang, it's sort of a holiday weekend here. By holiday weekend, I mean that I was off work today and will be off on Monday and Tuesday. I still have to work the weekend as usual. It seems like many schools and companies are doing things this way. Having a "split" holiday seems strange to Westerners, but there are a lot of strange things here!



Corban is the commemoration of Abraham's willingness to offer his son as a sacrifice at God's command, and then offered the lamb that was provided by God. So lambs are slaughtered in the street as a sacrifice, and then families feast on them.



I was invited by an American friend to go to a Corban dinner. First of all, the friend that invited him was apparently significantly delayed (I guess he had to stop and slaughter a sheep for some friends who didn't know how to do it themselves!) So his cousin met us and escorted us to their home which was in a little impoverished subdivision behind the subdivision where I live.



Upon entering the small courtyard of the home, we could immediately see where the lamb had been killed by the pool of blood still on the ground. We had to step over it to get into the home where we were greeted by both mom and grandma. Grandma in particular looked like she stepped straight out of a National Geographic magazine! We went inside where a spread of food was covered by a blanket to prevent the cat from getting at it. The "table" was on the family bed, as far as I could tell, and mats were spread around the outside of the food for us to sit on and eat. We were served tea at first and sat around and snacked on dates and peanuts and bread. Then we were served soup from the broth in which the lamb had been cooked. Once we got our soup, our tea was taken away since the soup was now our drink. Then we were served boiled lamb and carrots. The carrots were especially flavorful (maybe they were cooked in the broth as well??) and were cut in large slices so they could be easily eaten with the hand.



It was a delightful time. Despite wondering if I'd survive the meal due to sanitation, I'm glad I went. I haven't felt any negative effects yet, so everything must have been okay!

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Photos

National Geographic Moment
This is our host's grandmother and his little sister. This lady looked something from a National Geographic magazine.

Grandma, Sister, and Cousin
Now our host's cousin, Daniel, is added to the shot. You can also see where we ate - right there around the food with our legs crossed.

Daniel
David was our host (or at least our inviter), but since he was quite late, his cousin, Daniel, entertained us most of the time. Daniel has only studied English for five months, but he can communicate quite well considering the briefness of his study.

Our Table
The stuff in the middle is a traditional Uyghur food. I'm not sure what it's called, but it's this round, flaky pastry type thing is served at festival times and is also readily available on the streets.

"Stove"
This is where our stuff was cooked.

The Lamb
Our dinner was evidently killed right here, judging by the blood on the ground.

Courtyard
Here's the view from the doorway of the main part of the house into the little thached-roof courtyard.

David and Grandma
Here's our host with his grandmother in their doorway.

Sheep on the Street
At this point, this little flock of sheep - to be purchased for sacrifice - was being herded along a main bus route.

... and Now It Will Be Eaten!
This slaughtering is going on right by the street. You just walk by. Actually, the other day, I walked out and found freshly slaughtered sheep right outside my apartment door! This isn't a regular occurrence, but it happens for the Corban festival.