Yesterday, Muslim neighbours celebrated Tabaski ('Eid al-Adha')--the feast of the lamb, which commemorates when Abraham offered his son, Ishmael, as a sacrifice and act of obedience to God; God in his turn provided a lamb instead for the sacrifice. (While Muslims regard Ishmael as a prophet, in Judaism and Christianity, he has a much lesser, uncelebrated standing.) The tradition as we experienced it in Guinea is for the lamb (or goat) to be shared out with family, friends (Muslims or non-Muslims), as well as the poor members of the community. I am not sure which of the categories we fit here in Bim, though we are at least "members of the community".
The family concerned has only ever had one direct contact with us in the 18 months we have lived 1 house apart, that was when one of the daughters tried to do some fund raising for her Islamic school. So, I was not quite with it when the bell rang and a girl's voice uttered that she had a gift for me. "Who is this?" I asked. "Fat(i)ma," came the reply. I went to the gate and there were all the women of the family, some in yashmaks. I don't recall there being a special role for women in the distribution. Fatma handed me a plastic bag, and as I took it I knew that this "gift" had not been bought from any shop, as my hands realised the cool, soft sensation of flesh. I thanked her and her family, and uttered "Shukran" (Arabic for thanks); they looked back in surprise. I peeked inside the bag as soon as I closed the gate, and went to give it to my housekeeper.
In Guinea, the tradition during Tabaski was to celebrate the sharing by having a meal of roast lamb, prepared on a spit. In north and west Africa, the tradition has been to eat mechoui (whole roast lamb) with cous-cous;
it's a north African tradition that has migrated. We were lucky enough to have several Muslim friends who invited us for this truly delicious meal. I also had the good luck to have it in a more traditional setting, under a tent in the desert, when I worked in Mauritania. There you have the extra sensational rocket of Mauritanian tea (minty, hot and sweet, and you have to have three servings).Obviously, with only a part of the lamb, we cannot have mechoui here in Barbados, but we could roast it nicely and prepare the cous-cous.
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