A Look at Idul Adha

This time last week, Indonesians were preparing for one of the biggest Muslim holidays, Idul Adha, when they commemorate God providing a sacrifice for Abraham when he was called to sacrifice his son. There were places set up all along the road selling goats and cows to be sacrificed. It reminded me of Christmas tree farms in the States, only instead of trees, families came to see and pick out the animals.
I was invited to stay with good friends of mine for a couple days to join them in celebrating Idul Adha in their kampung. Even though I don't celebrate the holiday, they still really wanted me to experience it with them. It was definitely eye opening for me to see them take part in it and get a taste of more of the culture here. It was also a reminder and time to reflect on the Sacrifice that my hope is in.
Early in the morning, I went with them to the mosque where everyone gathered to pray. As is usual, the men and women were separated and I sat with the women of the family. I tried to be quick and inconspicuous when taking pictures, which is why they're not that great...and because I'm not a good photographer haha

The mosque is in the front and, as is usual on holidays, the people overflowed into the streets and nearby park where they laid down newspapers to pray on

Diva, the daughter of one of my friends. She's so sweet!

Shafira is one of my favorite little kids in the world! She's the cutest little nugget!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day...Shafira playing mom(the usual!) :)

After the mosque we went back to their family's kampung just in time for the sacrificing. They sacrificed 2 cows and 2 goats. This was quite the community affair. Everyone gathered to watch-men, women and children. Afterward, most of the women gathered together to cook while the men cut up the meat. Below are some pictures, but I spared you the gore and didn't include any of the graphic photos.

Getting ready for the first cow...

These kids were not afraid of anything! They watched the WHOLE thing.

And this little one got the cow's tail. She kept walking around with it and posing...gross!

Between the cows and goats, there was so much meat! The men cut up everything(and I mean everything). Some was taken and cooked up. Everyone in the kampung ate together. And the rest was divided up into black plastic bags and handed out to the poor. As is often seen in Indonesia, it was done as a community...the praying, working, cooking, eating, etc.