Idi Korbon in the Village

This year Drew, Eliana and I were able to spend the Idi Korbon holiday in the village at the house of one of our friends. This holiday occurs every year around 70 days after the end of Ramazan and is the holiday where people here commemorate Abraham's almost-sacrifice of his son, who Muslims believe to have been Ishmael. They will sacrifice an animal (if they are financially able) to atone for their sins for the past year and seek favor from God. Goats, sheep, cows...any animal is an option depending on how much money you have.

The holiday was on Thursday this year so we went Wednesday afternoon and participated in the preparations for the holiday and spent the night so we could also be there for the celebration. It was interesting to see the prep time from behind the scenes. I kept thinking about all the articles published in America each year about how to "simplify your holiday" or how to plan so that you aren't "stuck in the kitchen" when your guests arrive. Let's just say that line of thinking isn't relevant here. It's all about the process of cooking way more food than necessary and working very hard. It's really quite amazing. I helped out as I could, including putting a few loaves of bread inside the wood oven (let's just say I thought my skin was going to burn off!), peeling carrots and prepping green peppers and folding sambosas. Then on the day of the holiday Drew and I both helped out with the serving of the food. It was a tiring 24 hours but a culturally eye-opening experience.

Eliana was awesome! She had such a great time with the kids and played so well and did great using her language. I was really encouraged by her. She also had a blast going out on Thursday morning with the kids and collecting candy from the neighbors. She was exhausted too though when we got home. We all slept well that night!

Here are some pictures of our time away...

Eliana and the kids

Our friends have a nice-sized piece of land and several animals

This is the wood oven where they cook the bread. The opening is there on the left front. It is hot up in there!

Just a little fire starting material... :-)

 

This is the goat who would become our soup the next day!

 

One room full of food and ready for guests

 

Yep, this is their sink!

 

The area for cooking and serving the soup

That's a big deg!

They cook here and store food for the winter. It's the first floor of their house but more like a basement.

 

The rest of the "kitchen"

It's time....

 

Eliana with her friends

 

He used an ax to break up the bones so the meat would cook better and be easier to eat.

 

Eliana and a new bride we visited next door

Eliana snuck the camera and got in a selfie or two. :-)