I wish you could all be here to witness the preparations for Tabaski…

My friend Emily Potter is in Dakar, Senegal. She recently sent an email update and I just had to share this bit…

I wish you could all be here to witness the preparations for Tabaski. All the shepherds have come into the city and set up camp along the side of the road and in vacant lots with their flocks of sheep all destined to meet Allah on the biggest day of sacrifice in the Muslim calendar. Every head of household has to kill a sheep for every household (aka, one sheep for every wife) and then everyone puts on their best boubous and stuffs their faces with sheep and fruit juice and visits everyone they know.

The sheep in lots remind me of Christmas trees in parking lots in the states and all the married men are joking with one another asking if they’ve bought their sheep yet or if they’re going to wait until the last minute.