Is Meat an Innovation?

English Club discussion

“There can be no innovation!” he declared boldly, “The prophet did not celebrate it, so we can not celebrate it… It is just another day.” Several times he iterated the point: “We can only do what our prophet did.”

Two or three of our English club attendees started to gang up on him. “The prophet did not go on airplanes, do you use an airplane?” “The holiday is not an innovation. It was an important day in the prophet’s life.”

The discussion started to go in circles and was becoming heated, so we pushed it in another direction by asking how different people had marked the previous day (the contested holiday). One man volunteered that he and much of his village fasted the day, breaking the fast with a big meal at sunset. Immediately one of the men who had made the point about airplanes said, “You should not fast on this day. It is forbidden. The prophet did not fast, we should not fast.”

Getting ready to butcher on the beach

Others chimed in on this second debate, questioning whether people could or even should fast on this day. We reviewed some vocab words like: forbidden, allowed, required. It seems there is a lot of confusion about this holiday.

Internationally it is a more minor religious holiday. Lots of countries that hold the same beliefs as the islands, don’t really do anything to celebrate it. Even volcano island doesn’t do much special. But on our island it is a special day. We have compared it to Thanksgiving before. Schools are closed for two days so people can go to their home villages and be with family. In terms of activities, mostly people just cook and eat. Women cook all day. Some eat all day as well, some fast and only eat in the evening. But in any case it is a day where special foods are prepared that Clove islanders don’t normally eat— the most important being…MEAT!

Meat on the islands is usually frozen and imported. But on this one day of the year, Clove Islanders all try to eat fresh meat. There aren’t many cows on the islands and if it weren’t for this one day of the year, you’d wonder why they kept cows at all. But this day starts after the early morning prayer with the guiding of cows to their places of slaughter. Crowds gather not so much to watch the killing and butchering as to make sure they will get their fresh meat.  Usually everyone has already put their dibs in on a certain number of kilos or cut. People who didn’t plan ahead will be hard-pressed to find any fresh meat for purchase, every bit of the cow is already reserved.

Portioning out the meat

Tom and our older two went down to the beach that morning and watched some of the action. One cow was feebly kicking as we arrived, its life blood draining from it’s body.  We then watched it be skinned, gutted and separated.  Other children played with various cow parts - a head, an utter, a tail, while nearby their parents haggled in a crowd around a second cow which had already been divided.  Meat, fat and organs got thrown onto scales and then into plastic bags.  One by one people trickled away from the crowd with their purchases as others arrived, ready to argue,  in hopes of finding a kilo or two.

No one seems to place any religious significance on the eating of fresh meat. No one could even tell us how it started. The other islands don’t do it. It seems that perhaps this is a Clove Island “innovation” on the day. And while no one would say it’s required, and some would debate whether it is forbidden or allowed, it seems that most Clove Islanders like this holiday, regardless of what the prophet might of eaten that day.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Twama hasn’t given birth, her premature labor stopped and she was able to stay with some family while she recovered from the incident. Megan and our daughter had a fun trip to the big island. The travel between the islands wasn’t terribly pleasant, but they got there and back safely. They were so glad to go to the big dance performance and see all the hard work our colleagues put into it and all the love they had poured into all those young girls dancing on stage. It was a special trip. Our minor ailments seem to be improving, our youngest ears are doing much better and the skin infections seem to be clearing up. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
The situation with Ma Imani’s family is progressing, but not necessarily toward forgiveness and reconciliation. We keep praying for more honest conversations with members of the family really listening to each other with love and patience. Two of our colleagues (the dance teachers) are leaving the islands this week with no definite plans of returning— pray that they can end well, having good final interactions with the islanders they have known and loved over the past several years. Pray for the resolution of a conflict with an islander that used to work on the language project, he has been let go for several reasons and now is refusing to return one of the work computers unless his demands are met. It is a complicated situation that requires lots of wisdom, discernment and grace for all involved.