Kurban Bayrami at Dim Cayi

This morning we caught the local bus #10 and rode about 30 minutes up into the mountains that rise just outside the Alanya city-limits.  We weren’t sure whether the buses would be running on schedule, or at all, since today is Kurban Bayrami or Eid al-Adha in Arabic (“Feast of the Sacrifice”), one of the two major Islamic holidays. 

The holiday honors Abraham’s willingness to carry out God’s command to sacrifice his son Ishmael. According to the Koran, after receiving the order, Abraham reveals God’s instruction to his son, who stoically urges his father to comply with the divine order. Just before the act is done, God replaces Ishmael with a ram, rewarding both father and son for their complete surrender to God’s will. I had a conversation yesterday about this holiday with the very open and warm woman who works in the little stand that sells “American-style donuts” just outside the Costco-like supermarket in our neighborhood.  She learned English from a Jamaican ex-pat and conversations with her will be my incentive to buy more donuts for the boys over the next few months.  They’re definitely not complaining.  So, as the boys munched on their cinnamon-apple and strawberry glazed donuts, she told us that most families kill and eat a goat during the holiday, but that there would also a public sacrifice of a ram near the hospital here in Alanya.

And sure enough, on the short walk to the bus-stop this morning, we heard goats bleating from behind fences and saw a few men in a driveway dividing up parts and loading them into the hatchback of their car.  It’s hard for someone like me who buys her meat in plastic wrap from the supermarket to think about the fate of those cute little goats, but at the same time, I wouldn’t mind being invited to one of those goat dinners.

We weren’t invited, so instead spent the day eating fish at a restaurant on the Dim Cay river up in the mountains with our Georgetown faculty neighbors and their two kids.  There’s nothing like this in the states.  Here in Turkey, private restaurants are able to secure rights to build a dining establishment on top of a rushing river.  We hopped off the bus, walked across a bridge over the river, and had a choice of tables on stilts, floating tables tethered to a tree or tables high up in a tree over the river.  The kids chose the tree-house, and we settled into the cushions for an afternoon of dining and swimming. The water was icy, but the McCanns are a hardy bunch and took full advantage.  I was momentarily tempted by the thrill of jumping in that frigid water, but decided instead to enjoy the show with a bit of tea nestled comfortably in our tree-top perch.