THE SLAUGHTERING OF OFFERING LIVESTOCK

On 27 December 2009, all Muslims in the world celebrated Idul Adha. In Indonesia, People call it Lebaran Haji, as it is during the month that Muslims go on pilgrimage to fulfill the fifth pillar of Islam, that is, go on pilgrimage to the holy land of Makkah for those who are able to do it. The occassion was celebrated by slaughtering the offering livestock, such as sheep, goat, cow and buffallo, the meat of which was then given to those who deserved it.

In my living area, the slaughtering of offering livestock was executed at a vacant ground of a local inhabitant. Although a bit scared  as I couldn't bear seeing the blood resulted from the slaughtering, I pushed myself to go nearer to have a good sketch. This was the first time I went to such slaughtering site while bringing my sketchbook. It was a bit difficult to sketch such occasion as the slaughtering lasted in a very short time, no more than two minutes, and the offering livestock were immediately hung to have them skinned.

Sketches of the offering livestock
I made these sketches one day before the slaughtering. I used  a black Kenko HI-TECH-H #0,28 for line art and  Cotman Sketcher Box of Winsor&Newton for  coloring.

  

 

The process of livestock slaughtering
Due to the very short time, at the beginning I drafted each object in a raw and quick manner. Then I have them completed and finished. As I did it, the livestock were already hung to have them skinned. As a last touch, I added some color to some parts where I thought necessary.

The process of livestock skinning
Such process was executed by two people. As it finished, all contents of abdomen were spilled out, then the body of the livestock was cut into some pieces.