Tabaski

Tabaski - this most important holiday is celebrated in honor of the sacrifice Abraham was willing to make in fulfillment of God's will. Interestingly, Muslims believe that it was Abraham's son, Ishmael, whom he was willing to sacrifice, not Isaac, as the Bible clearly tells us. The importance of Tabaski to the Muslim community is very much like the importance of Christmas to the Christian community. To celebrate this holiday, the head of the family often saves up for months in order to afford a ram to be sacrificed. If possible, each Muslim family sacrifices a sheep ("mouton" in french) in remembrance of Abraham's sacrifice. After morning prayers at the mosque, the head of the family slaughters the ram by slitting it's throat and letting the blood into a hole in the earth. After he skins it and divides it among neighbors and family, the women prepare a big feast.

Nov 17, 2010 was the date of Tabaski this year and I was invited by some friends to partake of this special feast with them.

this is Asstou, the neighbor lady who invited me

this is the head of the family

this is Seynabou, one of Asstou's children

this is Asstou's son, Bamba. He & Seynabou are twins

these are some more of the neighbor kids, Mamadou & Usman

Seynabou was enjoying the first taste of meat when I arrived.

Mind you, I was very careful to time my arrival for after the sheep was slaughtered. :-)

This is what was left...

then, the women began preparing the feast - here Asstou is cooking the meat over the fire

& lots of onions

(the Senegalese sure do LOVE their onions!)

and, Voila!...

dinner

After eating dinner with the neighbor family, I made my way to the house of my friends - Marie, Ndeye, Fatou, & the rest of their family. They also invited me to share in Tabaski with them.

this is Marie

Here I am with Fatou & Ndeye & some of the kids that live there too

this is Fatou & her brother, Chekh.

On Tabaski, the young people get dressed up and walk around with their friends visiting neighbors & family. The children also get dressed up and go from house to house asking for money as a gift (kind of like Halloween!)