Answer to Question #313932 in English for Clie

Question

Explain the process of slaughtering of animals in the marriage ceremony and why did they slaughter the animal

Answer 1

Ritual slaughter is the practice of slaughtering livestock for meat in the context of a ritual. Ritual slaughter involves a prescribed practice of slaughtering an animal for food production purposes. The salient feature of African traditional slaughter is that the sheep or goat is first securely held on its back on the ground by two or three men while the mouth is grabbed tight and drawn backwards to stretch the neck. The slaughterer then cuts the throat transversely with a series of strokes half-way deep into the neck. Blood is allowed to drain off until the animal (still tightly held) is motionless or dies. The head is then severed off completely.

The next processes are skinning and evisceration which are not dissimilar to conventional methods, except that they are conducted on the ground with some randomness, especially where the workmen have no experience. Skinning begins with severance of the feet, and together with the head, they are saved for further cleaning and use as food. In evisceration, the organs of the belly, intestines, stomach etc. are removed first, followed by the contents of the chest cavity.

Some societies do not skin their animals. Instead the animal body (together with the head and feet) is singed and scraped of the hair, then scrubbed with a sponge and water to remove residual char and hair. After this they are close-shaved, rewashed and eviscerated. Singeing and scraping the skin in tropical sheep, for instance, is made easier by the fact that these animals have hair not wool. The process naturally increases carcass yield, and evokes flavours highly acceptable to the cultures that use this practice.

The animal is slaughtered this way in order to unity the parties involved.