HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

So while many of you were probably enjoying the intoxicating effects of various fermented beverages and ringing in the new year with boisterous enthusiasm... I was in bed and asleep by 10pm in a rural African village. But! That is not to say I did not enjoy my own festivities.

After a wonderful christmas spent with the other volunteers, I returned to my village to celebrate the muslim holiday of Tabaski. Tabaski is the muslim new year, which happened to coincide with the christian new year this time. Traditionally, you must sacrifice a sheep in symbolic memory of Abraham's sacrificing his son (he was stopped at the last second and told to sacrifice a sheep instead). A portion of the sheep you give to the poor, a portion to your friends, and the rest you eat yourself. It doesn't really sound terribly exciting.

You all remember the sheep I purchased several months ago. Well he was purchased with a plan. He was killed on Sunday along with my Maigari's two sheep and three goats. The six animals were all sacrificed on behalf of my Maigari's (rather large and extended) family. One sheep per family is the usual rate, I gather.

After the initial killing, we spent most of the day cleaning the carcasses. All the organs were collected, the liver and heart were skewered on sticks for roasting, the rest placed in bowls. The animal, once skinned and deprived of its vitals, was impaled on two crossed sticks. The resulting array looked like something out of a Silent Hill game (don't worry if you don't get the reference, it was spooky is what I'm trying to say). All six hunks of meat were then lined up along a rack, with a large fire built on the other side. The skewered liver and heart were placed in the ground just in front. We then spent the entire rest of the day smoking our sheep.

A couple times that evening I sat down with my villagers to feast upon the various and sundry innards that had been cooked by the women while we were prepping the carcasses. Turns out intestine is pretty tasty. The texture didn't even bother me too much. I suppose it's really all in the sauce.

On Monday all the meat was divided up. I ended up giving about half of my sheep away because well, a whole sheep is a lot for one person to eat. The other carcasses were also divided and so I had several smoked ribs for breakfast. Also liver and onions left over from the night before. I then spent about an hour deep frying all the hunks of meat that my half had been chopped into. This way, I now have half a sheep sitting in my house, but not rotting. So the last few days have mostly been spent sitting with my cat picking pieces of meat to eat. And of course taking lots of naps when our bellies are too full. All in all a good holiday.

So much meat!!!