Tobaski
On Sunday it was the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha, which in The Gambia they call Tobaski. It is one of the most important Islamic holidays, and given over 90% of Gambians are Muslim, it is widely celebrated here.
On Sunday morning we attended prayers at the grounds of a nearby mosque. As we were walking there, I was struck by how nicely people were dressed. Everyone had on beautiful traditional Gambian outfits. We had on dresses (though not quite as elaborate) as well as headscarves. When we arrived at the mosque there were hundreds if not thousands of people already there. It took me a few minutes to realize that the men and women were separated: all of the women were in the back and the men in the front. I asked one of the Starfish girls why this was the case and she explained that prayer is supposed to be pure, so this is done to prevent the men from looking at the women when they pray. The prayers themselves lasted no more than 10 minutes, a stark contrast from the 1.5-hour long church services I’m used to.
Perhaps the most important part of Tobaski is the slaughter of rams. On Saturday (the day before Tobaski), we were driving through the outer Banjul area and for miles along the side of the road rams were being sold. While easy to find and buy, I quickly realized that transporting these rams is a whole different story. There were some makeshift and seemingly impractical ways of doing this. The most popular methods I saw were to load the relatively large animals into taxi trunks or put them on the roof of cars. Based on how erratic most of the driving is here, I was especially worried about that second one, but I didn’t see any rams fall off.
We sleep in dorms that are on the same property as the founder of Starfish’s family and relatives, many of whom are Muslim and celebrate Tobaski. They bought two rams Saturday night and then killed them Sunday morning in our courtyard area. While I did not witness the actual slaughter of these rams, I did watch them butcher and cook the meat. It is a very labor-intensive process as it requires removing the hide, cutting through the flesh and bone of the animal, and repeatedly pounding the meat to make it tender. I can’t say it was easy to watch — especially seeing the severed heads of the rams. However, I felt it was important to fully immerse myself in the experience and try to better understand this sacrificial practice. From observing and talking with people, I learned that they pray about the animal before killing it, they use the whole animal, and it is killed both quickly and ethically.
They used some of the meat to make Afra, which is essentially Gambian barbecue usually served with onions and a spicy mustard sauce. We had the chance to try some of the ram Afra and it was delicious. I’m usually not one to shy away from trying new foods, so when I was offered ram testicle, I figured why not try it? I’ve eaten plenty of unusual meats during previous travels oversees, from sea snail to frog legs, pigeon and cow veins, so may as well add another one to the list. While the ram testicle had a very strange texture, it was surprisingly pretty good.
It was really special to be in The Gambia during this holy holiday and I’m so thankful for the experience. Down to my last few days here!
With love,
Lindsay
