lorraine

I have just read this in the Fethiye Times. Now Due t the Bayram festival the Tuesday Market will be closed, but I think even I will give the market place a miss this Tuesday!!



Fethiye Times Wednesday, 04 January 2006
Kurban Bayram - The Festival of the Sacrifice Starts on 10 January Kurban Bayram - The Festival of the Sacrifice begins on 10th January - 70 days after Ramazan.


It marks the famous biblical story where God showed mercy to Abraham by allowing him to sacrifice a ram instead of his son. All over Turkey families save up and buy a sheep, goat or bull, and then take it to a licensed place where it gets its throat cut in the traditional Halal way. Some people still do this in their back yards, but that is now illegal, so the practice should start to die out in all but the most rural of locations.

Animals are then skinned and jointed, with a large proportion being passed on to the poor and the skins sent to the army/airforce. Some of the meat is cooked up very quickly and eaten reverently.

Fethiye Belediye has allowed the Tuesday market to be used as a central point for those wishing to sacrifice an animal. If you are interested why not pop down for a look - not for the squeamish though!

immac

I saw this last year. For those that do not know Fethiye market, there is a canal that runs through it and on into the sea; the blood from the slaughtering pens ran into the canal turning it red.
People were driving up with animals for slaughter in the back of the car and going home with a bag of meat.
Across the road from my apartment, an old chap set up for business under an apple tree, slaughtering and skinning goats for locals using the tree as a rack for the purpose.
Trucks are delivering goats to people's front doors for days beforehand and the unsuspecting animals are tethered in the gardens until the fateful day.
The whole spectacle is fascinating but, as you say, not for the squeamish.

Ian

lorraine

I know it is a custom and one that we have to accept, but the first time I saw this was before the law was passed making it illegal to slaughter the animals in the owners yards/gardens, the smell was awful and then to see a dog happily trotting towards you wagging its tail with entrails hanging from its mouth was nearly enough to turn me veggie!!

Last year I was about to open my front door and I could hear a baaaing sound, I looked round thinking that it was coming from my garden, I turned the porch light on and there looking at me over the fence were 2 goats! I wanted to unleash them and set them free in the mountains. They stayed there tied to the fence for 2 or 3 days teasing me with thier bleating cries. Do you think they knew what was ahead of them?

So Will I ever walk round the Tuesday market again without thinking of what took place, I doubt it.

VWBug

This is a religious ritual custom that is a practice in many Muslim countries. This practice involves feeding the poor and homeless people that otherwise would go hungry. This is religious topic and unless you want to have a heated religious thread, which may involve other religion's rituals, we should follow the forum rules and not discuss it here.

Guz1

Umit, I don't mean to be offensive, but I think you are being over-sensitive about this. Meat processing factories in western european countries use the halal method to slaughter animals for export to Islamic countries, just as they use whatever is the equivalent Kosher method for animals being slaughtered for the Jewish meat market. It appears to me that Lorraine was expressing squeamishness because it was probably the first time she had ever actually seen an animal being slaughtered, and that she would have felt the same revulsion seing any living creature meet its end. I think that the slaughtering, bleeding, and butchering of animals, by whatever method and for whatever reason, is a process that should be carried out in a controlled environment. My opinion has nothing to do with religion, but rather a concern for public health.
Lorraine, next time you sit down to a plate of steak and chips I'm sure your only concern will be whether it's medium rare or well done.

Maria.

VWBug

Hi Maria,
Thanks, you have a good point. But the reason I said lets not discuss here, that sometimes the thread goes out of control and gets to the point that everyone tells their detailed experience about those animals how sacrificed and I am sure some members here don’t want to hear like me. Nothing wrong to say what is the holiday about but we don’t want to hear the details. I am sure some other members also agree with me. Plus I believe we have a forum rule that we won’t discuss any religion here. So I just wanted to help and express my feelings as a Turkish member. This can go on and on and believe me it is not fun to hear all the details of sacrifice.

kurtadam