I Might Become a Vegetarian. . .

Today, literally the smell of death is in the air here in Turkey.

As I look outside my window I can see the bloody carcasses of two slaughtered bulls. Between most apartment buildings here, men are slaughtering bulls or rams.

Now, let me back-track and give you a visual journey of the events of this weekend.

Saturday-

Notice the plastic tarp covered buildings? A few weeks ago, I thought oh maybe an new open air market is coming. Well, I was semi-right. A few days later, I walked by and noticed the smell of manure. I found out that this is the place to go buy a live bull or ram to sacrifice for the holiday. These places popped up all over the Asian side of Istanbul. During last years holiday, I didn't notice these because I didn't live in the outskirts of Istanbul as I do now. Now, I am living in a more "country" area, complete with chickens walking down the streets!

What holiday am I talking about? Halloween? No. Don't remember a sacrificial holiday?

I am talking about the Islamic holiday Eid-al-Adha.

Read on for more info...

I decided to take Aivia to go see the animals (aren't I a great mom, going to see sacrificial animals). I wanted to take pictures and I felt sure that if Aivia went with me, I could easily get a few pictures if she just smiled! Sure enough, the people let me take all the pictures I wanted. Under each of these tarps is a small herd of sheep or bulls. People come by, examine them, trying to find the best animal for the best price. Bulls are pretty expensive, so five to seven families might go in together to purchase one. Below is a picture of a line of tarps with sellers and buyers.

A nice lady from Tunceli, Turkey let me take a picture of her and her sheep. Most of the people are very gracious here. A young man offered to put Aivia in the pen with rams so I could take her picture. I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not. I hope he was kidding because the rams were butting each others heads and climbing on each other.

On our way home, I snapped the picture below of a sheep tied to a tree in someone's yard awaiting his doom. He looked so peaceful but with big sad eyes and I immediately thought of the verse in Isaiah 53 of the sleep led to be slaughtered.

Sunday-

I am not that familar with this holiday and all that it entails so I was completely caught off guard this morning when I looked out the window and watched bulls and sheep being led down the sidewalks. Watch the video below.

Now I just want you all to know that I really enjoy a good steak as often as I can get it and find beef in general tasty, but watching the cows being driven down the street to later be slaughtered really got to me. I have to admit that I cried all morning and then to make matters worse, I looked out the window and saw a bull slaughtered. Strange to see life taken away from an animal. Below is just one of the many butchering sites that I saw. Later I looked back and the men were all sitting by the carcass drinking tea like it was just a part of normal everyday life. Afterwards the men bury the entrails, carcass, etc. in the ground nearby, the vacant lots all around the neighborhood. To be fair though, I live in a poorer part of Istanbul so it might be different in a more well-to-do part of town.

The nice part of this holiday is that the people get together with their families and friends for about three days of food and fellowship.

As I write this, I want to stress that I am in no way making fun of the Islamic communty or trying to insult them, but what I want to do is give my readers my perception (which is probably flawed) of the Islamic holiday Eid-al-Adha. In Turkey, it is called Kurban Bayram, the sacrifice holiday commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Now for those of you familiar with the Bible, the Judeo-Christian records that it was Isaac that Abraham was willing to sacrifice.

Christians and Jews believe that the sacrifice of animals is for the forgiveness of sins. From the very beginning of man's existence in Genesis, the penalty for sin was death. Hebrews 9:22 says "that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness". I learned that Muslims do not see the sacrifice in that way. It is only a commemoration, a good work for Allah to notice.

Today was definitely a different cultural experience, the most interesting so far.