Nina’s mom is a middle school history teacher just across the border in East Java. We went to her school first, where goats were being sacrificed and prepared for local families. Most of the teachers came and participated in carving up the pieces of meat, bagging them and distributing them.

After about 20 minutes, Nina and I went back to the mosque near the house to see the cows being sacrificed. If I’m not mistaken, only male cows can be sacrificed.

It’s like watching a car accident. You know something unpleasant is happening, but can’t look away. In my case, I recorded the whole event.
It just occurred to me that I had never seen an animal’s head cut off, or the source of all those ribs & steaks artfully separated from their previous owner before. I wasn’t the only one seeing this for the first time. The next two cows on deck were a few feet away, and weren’t happy about their prospects.

The hole in the ground is for burying the animal’s blood. Soldiers from the local Army base did much of the prepatory work of getting the animals tied up and in position. Village elders, religious leaders, and professional butchers in some cases, did the honors of relieving the animal from this life with careful cuts from a long, sharp knife (machete). Teams of soldiers continued the dissection work, sending various pieces and limbs to the finishing touches assembly area, where most of the women carved and bagged the meat into 4, 8 and 16 ounce portions.
It was a big team effort by locals, for locals. Impressive to watch.