I rang the man about the cow. “You said there was a cow here. Where is it?”
“They slaughtered it the day before yesterday.”
Eid al-Adha was only days away. And the cow I had planned to see was gone.
What is Eid al-Adha like in Mozambique?
In June 2023 I spent Eid al-Adha with the Muslim community I lived among in Mozambique. We prayed the Eid prayer in a new mosque that was still being built. Then a bull was slaughtered for Qurbani in the yard of a house. I cooked the first pot of meat and made roti, and the meat was divided and shared.
01 — Before EidSame size, same price
The road ran red between rows of eucalyptus trees. Somewhere out here were the cattle.
It was a few days before Eid al-Adha, in June 2023. I went out by motorbike to see the cattle owners in the bush.
“We're off to the cattle haat,” I told the camera. “Let's see how we buy our Qurbani animals here.”
At home in Bangladesh, Qurbani means huge cattle haats. Here it isn't like that. You go house to house, to whoever has cattle, and look, choose and bargain at their pens.
The first pen was a ring of rough wooden poles. Inside stood brown, red, cream and grey cows, all with humps.
The owner climbed through the gate with me. “Which one did you say you'd sell?”
We went from cow to cow. “This one is the same size, the same price.” Another was a little dearer.
That one was different from the others, the owner said. “I brought this breed from far away.”
I was told the prices. I'm leaving them out. Prices change. The pens are the story.
02 — The phone callThe cow I had planned to see was already gone
There was one cow I had planned to see. A man had told me about it.
So I phoned him. “Hello, good morning.”
“Good morning. How are you?” We said we were fine. Then I asked: “You said there was a cow here. Where is it?”
“They slaughtered it the day before yesterday.”
“Why did you slaughter it? Weren't you going to bring me to see it?”
“I thought you were just saying it! Otherwise I'd have had a word with them.”
He hadn't believed I was serious. That's all it was.
03 — On the roadMore cows, more pens, and a pickup full of people
So I kept looking.
On the motorbike, I rode straight through a herd being driven down a dirt track. Black, white, brown, spotted.
Further on, I came to a vet's house: a round thatched hut with plastic chairs outside. From there a man in a grey jacket walked me down a path into green bush. At the end was another pen made of logs. A cow was tied to a post, eating leaves.
Then a white pickup came along the track. I climbed into the open back.
It was already full. Men, women with babies, children, a fuel can, bags. We rode along the red road together, and I was laughing.
I didn't buy a cow that day. Later, a few of us bought one together, from that very first pen.
04 — Eid dayEid prayer in a mosque with no finished walls
On Eid morning, our prayer hall still had a ladder leaning on the outside wall.
It was a new mosque. Outside, the brick walls were half built. Inside, the walls were bare plaster, and the floor was full of men sitting in rows.
It was winter in Mozambique, so many wore jackets over their clothes. White caps, winter coats. I wore a pale pink kurta.
After the prayer, men stood up and hugged each other across the hall.
05 — The QurbaniA black bull, a yellow rope and a line of young men
On Eid day, a bull for the Qurbani was waiting in the yard of a house, tied to a tree.
A black bull with long horns. A turquoise wall behind it. A green bucket at its side.
Then a line of young men and boys took hold of a yellow rope, and pulled together to lay the bull down. One of them wore a white prayer cap.
I blurred the slaughter in my film, and I'll leave it there.
Afterwards the men worked on the hide, laying the meat on it. Someone called out: “You're keeping the meat on the hide, aren't you!”
06 — The kitchenWhile they cut the meat, I cooked
Everyone else was busy cutting meat. I went to the stove.
First, whole spices in a black pan: bay leaves, cinnamon bark, star anise and more, toasting on the gas.
Then the meat went into a huge steel pot on the floor of the yard. In went sliced onion, a yellow paste, green chillies and bowls of ground spices. An uncle told me to stir it with a stick. I wasn't enjoying that. So I mixed it with my hands.
Soon the pot was yellow-green with masala, with green chillies on top. It went on the stove.
Behind me, the others kept cutting and chatting as they worked.
07 — Chittagong styleRoti that puffed up like naan
This first pot of meat was for eating with roti. So I started rolling.
Dough balls on a floured floor tile. A rolling pin. One roti after another onto the pan, in a small tiled kitchen with boxes of toothpaste stacked behind me.
I made them the Chittagong village way. They came out soft and puffed up, looking almost like naan.
By the time the roti were done, the meat was off the stove. The curry had turned brown.
We ate with our hands, tearing the roti and dipping it in the curry. Some sat on the floor. An older uncle took a big bite. I laughed with my mouth full.
09 — Mozambique foodOn other days, I bought my beef in the bush
Qurbani comes once a year. The rest of the year, I went into the bush for beef.
In 2022 I posted two videos of it, in August and in December. Both times, a cow had been slaughtered under the trees at the edge of a village. The meat lay on a bed of cut green leaves.
I didn't buy at a stall. I bought it there, by weight, on a small scale.
“Which ones are mine here?” I asked in December. “I'll weigh them with this scale.”
One of the men had a request for my camera. “Film me more. I'm the one doing everything here!”
They asked if I wanted the head. No. The hide? No, I didn't need that either.
Then: “Fill the sack! Fill the sack!” The white sacks went onto a hand cart, and the cart rolled off down the red dirt road.
WatchSpend Eid with me
FAQQuestions people ask about Eid in Mozambique
Is Eid al-Adha celebrated in Mozambique?
Yes, by the Muslims there. In June 2023 I prayed the Eid prayer with our community in a new mosque, and then we did the Qurbani together.
How did you do Qurbani in Mozambique?
On Eid day a bull was slaughtered in the yard of a house, with young men helping on the rope. I blurred the slaughter in my film. Then the meat was cut, cooked and divided.
Where do you find a cow for Qurbani in rural Mozambique?
Where I was, there were no big cattle haats like the ones at home in Bangladesh. Before Eid in 2023, I went house to house to cattle owners' pens in the bush. One cow I had been told about had already been slaughtered, because the man didn't think I was serious.
How is Qurbani meat shared in your community in Mozambique?
In our community, everyone kept one share of three. The rest went to the mosque, to the workers and to the neighbours. At the mosque people come and take it, and often it is carried to their homes.
What did you cook on Eid in Mozambique?
The first pot of Qurbani meat: whole spices toasted in a pan, then the meat mixed by hand with masala and cooked. I ate it with roti I made the Chittagong village way. They puffed up almost like naan.
Where do you buy beef in rural Mozambique?
On ordinary days in 2022, I bought it in the bush, where a cow had been slaughtered under the trees at the edge of a village. The meat was weighed on a small scale and loaded into sacks on a hand cart.
What was the weather like at Eid al-Adha 2023?
In June 2023 it was winter in Mozambique. Many people at the Eid prayer wore jackets.