Tobaski November 2010

No, not goats - these are Gambian sheep - or rather, rams. Why am I posting a picture of rams? Much of our trip to The Gambia last November was taken over by Tobaski. This is an important Muslim religious festival celebrated by Muslims all over the world. In many countries it is known as Eid al-Adha.

Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى‎ ‘Īdu l-’Aḍḥā) or "Festival of Sacrifice". It commemorates the willingness of  Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to Allah. Allah intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead.

About 90% of the people in The Gambia are Muslim, the other 10% being made up mostly of Christians and those with traditional beliefs. Tobaski is probably the most important religious festival in The Gambia and many of our friends there likened it to Christmas in the UK. The majority of people, certainly those under 40, wear Western clothes most of the time. On Tobaski, everyone (men, women and children) wear traditional dress for the day. All of the women and girls have new hair styles. It seems to be a display of wealth. Who can wear the most beautiful clothes and jewelery?

 Every family buys a ram to slaughter, the size and number dependent on the family's means. It is usually the responsibility of the eldest male in the family to buy the ram. Everywhere we went we saw rams on leads, in car boots, in wheelbarrows, on top of minibuses, and even inside cars and minibuses, as people struggled to get the ram from the market to home.

The day starts at dawn. The young boys take the rams down to the sea to wash them. Even though I am a vegetarian, something made me want to go and watch this tradition. So I got up a dawn, armed with my video camera (Geoff and Tracey thought I was crazy).
Unfortunately, my video software does not seem compatible with blogspot, so cant upload it!

The religious service, 'prayers', starts at about 10.30. The vast majority of the Muslim people attend this. In Bakau, where we stayed, the football field is used for prayers. The spectacle of the brightly clothed people arriving for prayers was a sight to behold. The men and boys are allowed to sit in the main area, the women and girls are relegated to the back.

As the prayers come to an end, the senior Imam slaughters the ram and sends praise to Allah. It is not until this has been done that the people are allowed to slaughter their family's ram. This is one part of the day that I refused to watch. All our friends were accepting of this, even though most cannot understand why Geoff and I choose not to eat meat. Even so we were delighted to be invited to share Tobaski with Alimamo's family in their compound.

The meat is divided into three parts to be distributed to others. Traditionally, the family retains one third of the share, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors, and the other third is given to the poor & needy.

I'll end this blog with my favourite picture from Tobaski.