A sacrifice for Dasai

Tuesday, October 19.
Caution: Gory details included.
Early this morning, half or so of the group huddled for warmth as we waited for the arrival of the goat. When the priest got here, we all stood facing the big rock in the schoolyard as we were given tikkas of reddened rice, and then, one at a time, threw rice and marigolds onto the goats back in blessing. Then we waited while various staff members and the local knifeman tried to procure a self-instigated shake from the goat, which would signify the goat's agreement to the sacrifice. With all of its squirming and desperate bleating, they eventually dragged it inside, where it apparently shook itself, and then brought it back out. It sure didn't seem as if it had accepted its fate, as it wriggled like crazy while they tried to make it stand with two hooves on each side of a log. What followed was one of the stranger things I've seen. It all happened so fast. The young man with the big knife stepped up to the plate, and the blade came down swiftly on the back of the goat's neck. He had to hack a couple of times to get all the way through, and then there it was. The head fell to the ground, the body remained standing, muscles in both kept moving, the heart kept beating, the tongue dropped limp. They held the hind legs up and let all the blood drip out of the neck into a pot. The head stopped moving. What relationship did this silent, separated body have to the living, moving goat that we'd seen just moments before? After that, is was no longer a goat, but a shape.
The head and neck were distributed to the priest and knifeman, respectively, and then the men laid the body on two benches, blew up the lungs and scraped all of the hair off with sharp-edged metal cups. The next we saw of it after breakfast, the feet were laid aside and only a spine and ribs were left on the benches. All of the meat and innards were placed in various dhokos (baskets). I still didn't know what to feel about it. At lunch I had a tiny bit of meat off of Steph's plate and tried some of the gravy in my rice. I couldn't stomach it, and I still don't know why. I think I'll stick with vegetarianism.