Kurban Bayrami

I’ve been meaning to post sooner, but these past two weeks have been somewhat hectic with the preparation for Kurban Bayrami (The Festival of the Sacrifice) I officially hate Kurban Bayrami, always have, always will, but it’s a big deal on the Muslim calendar. I’d say it’s the equivalent of importance as Christmas.  It originates  from the story that’s also written in the bible, Abraham and his son Isaac?(Though in the Kuran its Ibrahim and Ismael). I know nothing about religion, nor do I care to learn anything about it, but something like this went down apparently... Abraham had to sacrifice his son for whatever reason...but then of course a sheep came down from the sky, and God in all his benevolence said “ Abraham kill this sheep instead...I take back all the shit about sacrificing your first born son yada yada yada”... Naturally  this is to be interpreted literally ...now millions of poor animals are “sacrificed in the name of God” for Kurban Bayrami.  I’m no vegetarian and I guess one could argue “so what if they’re simply eating really really fresh meat during this period. But it’s the manner in which these animals are killed that I have a real problem with.

This is how Lonely Planet  writes up Kurban Bayrami:

Every year around four million cows and sheep are sacrificed for Kurban Bayrami. Traditionally, every head of a household who can afford to buys a beast to sacrifice. Immediately after early-morning prayers on the first day of the holiday the animal’s throat is slit. It’s then flayed and butchered, and friends and family prepare a feast. Part of the meat is given to needy; the skin is donated to charity, which then sells it to a leather products company. These days you won’t see the sacrifices in the cities, but out in the countryside it’s a different story.

And boy is it ever. I was terrified during the past week that I would walk by a house and see them killing the poor animal. These people are not professional butchers, they don’t know how to kill an animal humanely, not that the manner in which its supposed to be killed is remotely humane anyway. The animal doesn't die instantly, it's just horrific.  I was in a state of depression all week.

Anyway I’m assuming anyone who’s reading this is not at all religious so I don’t care if I’ve offended anyone.  Frankly I was deeply offended by the lame arse reasons I’ve heard all week to justify this senseless cruelty, but anyway moving on.  So this week I tried to avoid commenting on, or  participating in any Bayram festivities. The extent of which involves early morning Prayer  (Ezan) at around 5am which can be heard from any minaret  from the Mosques, then people releasing gunshots in rejoice for whatever... I was forewarned about this by my cousin, and thank goodness cause imagine waking up to random gun shots going off at 4.30am, some shot off by my other cousin from the balcony below. I’ve never heard live gunfire before...and its f**king frightening.

Then the day is supposed to begin with sacrificing of the animal. Sheep, goats’ etc people tend to do in their yards, while a Hoca (Muslim Priest) reads out a prayer or something. The animal is hoisted up by its legs and its throat slit. Larger animal such as cows are usually left to the “professionals” to be killed, off site, then the meat is delivered to your house. However people can still choose to attempt to do this at home, like my cousin Surreya’s husband. He’s a big guy but frankly....he’s a sadist too...I mean I just can’t even think about it. All week leading up to Bayram day I heard of people saying that their animal had committed suicide.  I know this sounds odd...but animals can sense these things I feel...and multiple people said that their goat/sheep/cow had either circled and circled around the rope in which it was tied until it suffocated. I feel sorry for these poor animals that sensed their death, and killed themselves. The poor animal committing suicide aside, and I thought to myself  “good...now you can shove your stupid sacrifice”. Because it means they've outlayed money for nothing in a sense. Because let me put this out there...these animals aren’t  cheap, my cousins went thirds in a cow and that cost around $3000, smaller animals are around $500-600.  These people aren’t  wealthy, most are severely in debt, yet...they’re so utterly brainwashed by religion that they feel killing this poor animal is going to put them in the ‘good books with God’ and lead to prosperity. You know what would lead to prosperity? Putting that $3000 in a bank account every year and letting it accrue interest. But you know what the Hoca’s  say about interest? That it’s haram (a sin) of course this all works in their favour doesn’t it...you wouldn’t want people investing their money wisely and not killing a animal every year right. Anyway I’m getting angrier as I write this. I was going to write about what happens during Bayram, but I’ll leave that to my next post. 

Pretty self explanatory ...a cow's head.

I have other things to say about this, but it probably needs to be said in person, rather then posted here on the blog.