Livestock everywhere, must be a holiday

It was almost impossible to miss that yesterday was Idul Adha, the Day of Sacrifice in Islam and one of the most important days of the Hajj pilgrimage. This day is most visibly marked by a nationwide mass slaughtering of goats and cows where families will buy one of these animals and then give away most of the meat to the poor. And remember this is Indonesia, where freezers, if you are lucky to have one are the size of a lunch box, so this meat is eaten immediately!  In local communities, mosques are usually the center of activity and people give according to their individual means so the poor can receive this charity.

The first evidence that this holiday was approaching were the large banners that pop up around town advertising the prices of “korban” (the animals to be killed) and contact number for you to order your own. Soon one noticed that livestock was entering Jakarta from all sides. You might see a truck barreling down the highway with a lone bull in the back, or maybe a goat tied to a tree in front of a shop down town. But most common were the random holding areas where these animals will wait their fated day in patience. I was somewhat surprised to see one pop up in my little neighborhood (it went next to the broken badminton court), but even more surprised to see one in the front parking lot of the National Ministry of Education with about 30 cows. A friend of mine even recounted standing outside of Grand Indonesia, one of the nicest shopping malls in Jakarta, and witnessing a herd of goats run across her path with seemingly no one in charge of them!

The evening azan on the day before also made it impossible to ignore the holiday because it lasted for almost five hours! Now I am not one to complain about a little call to prayer, in fact I think it is a beautiful sound. But I think my neighborhood mosque needs some singing lessons because it is just painful to listen to them struggle through, especially at 10:30pm when I want to go to sleep!

The day of Idul Adha is a national holiday and was a perfect mid-week day off. I avoided any animal butchering and went on a adventure to find some cheap headphones. And it did turn out to be a travel adventure within the city; I ended up taking four different kopaja bus lines that I had never ridden before and befriended a group of giggling 12 year-old girls who seemed to want to escort me between bus transfers.  The trip was a success as I once again can listen to music on my morning runs and I avoided having to see any animal butchering.