So I have recently done some Googling to understand why there are two Eids (Eid Al Fitr at the end of Ramadan; and Eid Al Adha which is now). Eid Al Adha is, according to Wikipedia, the festival of sacrifice. It celebrates the time that Ibrahim (Abraham) agreed to sacrifice his son Ishmael when Allah demanded it, and then at the last minute Allah told him to sacrifice a sheep (ram? lamb? not sure which) instead.
So the day after I did my Googling and learned what Eid Al Adha celebrates, I saw a very interesting article on the front page of our newspaper explaining that the price of Australian sheep had been fixed by the government at 90 OR (about $250) and the price of a Somali sheep had been fixed at 40 OR (about $100). And then I got to worrying about where all the sacrificing takes place because when I was in the fourth grade I visited a friend near Yakima (Washington) and I saw a cow being butchered in the middle of a field. That experience really stuck with me, city girl that I am (if Seattle in the 70s can be called a city), and not in a great way.
Rest assured, readers, that all the killing takes place in slaughter houses. Thanks to my ever-informed friend Kathy, I now know the location of two slaughter houses (not that I need to go to one) and also that the price of the slaughtering is fixed by the government.
According to Wikipedia, traditionally the person who bought the animal keeps one-third of the meat, gives one-third to friends and family and gives the last third to the needy.
So this also explains why Kathy told me in an email before we moved here that it's impossible to buy a used deep freezer. (All our houses come with those half-size ones that really only have enough space for ice cube trays.) So much meat!
So the day after I did my Googling and learned what Eid Al Adha celebrates, I saw a very interesting article on the front page of our newspaper explaining that the price of Australian sheep had been fixed by the government at 90 OR (about $250) and the price of a Somali sheep had been fixed at 40 OR (about $100). And then I got to worrying about where all the sacrificing takes place because when I was in the fourth grade I visited a friend near Yakima (Washington) and I saw a cow being butchered in the middle of a field. That experience really stuck with me, city girl that I am (if Seattle in the 70s can be called a city), and not in a great way.
Rest assured, readers, that all the killing takes place in slaughter houses. Thanks to my ever-informed friend Kathy, I now know the location of two slaughter houses (not that I need to go to one) and also that the price of the slaughtering is fixed by the government.
According to Wikipedia, traditionally the person who bought the animal keeps one-third of the meat, gives one-third to friends and family and gives the last third to the needy.
So this also explains why Kathy told me in an email before we moved here that it's impossible to buy a used deep freezer. (All our houses come with those half-size ones that really only have enough space for ice cube trays.) So much meat!
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