Prices for sacrificial lambs skyrocket as Iraqis honor dead

[babylonsister]

Prices for sacrificial lambs skyrocket as Iraqis honor dead

By Jenan Hussein and Adam Ashton | McClatchy Newspapers


BAGHDAD — The sheep markets looked different this year: They were packed with customers buying animals to sacrifice in memory of recently lost relatives, but many people went home empty-handed due to the enormous demand and steeply rising prices.

There's an ancient tradition in Iraq of honoring deceased loved ones during the annual Eid al Adha religious holiday by donating part of a slaughtered lamb to neighbors and part to Baghdad's poor.

However, the demand for lambs has soared as Iraqis this week remember tens of thousands of people who died during the war.

Before the war, Iraqis who followed the ancient tradition would find plenty of animals at prices they could afford. This year, the prices skyrocketed.

Many people took to making down payments to reserve their animals, a claim marked by the names of dead men painted on the lambs' wool.

"The mothers of the murdered would give their eyes" to bring back their sons, said Suad Jabbar Salim, 45, a Baghdad woman who bought five lambs this week. "Their sons are more dear to them now than they were when they were alive. All they can do is buy a sacrifice for them."

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