It is the day of reckoning for reality television star Hamza, a large white ram that is among 15 contestants hoping to be crowned Senegal’s most beautiful sheep.
His owner, Mohamed Diop, 38, who calls Hamza “my pet and my best friend”, is the nervous one, however, with a prize of two million CFA francs (3 000 euros) only one of the issues at stake.
“If I win…” he says, pausing as he peers over a throng of people crowding his stall before yelling to attract the attention of a young woman standing shyly to the side clutching a baby.
“If I win,” he repeats, pointing and beaming, “I am going to marry that girl”.
The popular Kharbii competition — Kharbii is sheep in the local Wolof language — now in its second year has gathered a massive television following with viewers following the show week by week as finalists are whittled down.
Organiser Marianne Bathily of the African marketing agency EXPagency, says the competition is a platform for the Senegalese “to express their passion for sheep”, an animal with huge religious significance in Islam.
Commemoration of sacrifice
The competition comes ahead of the biggest day in the Muslim calendar, the Festival of Sacrifice Eid Al-Adha, known in west Africa as Tabaski.
The festival commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael, at which time God, rewarding his obedience, allowed him to slaughter a ram instead.
On November 17, some 690 000 sheep will be slaughtered in Senegal in one day, Farming Minister Oumou Khairy Gueye Seck told AFP.
“We have opened the borders and given a tax exemption for sheep coming from the sub-region, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso etc,” she said.
As the holiday approaches, sheep are seen bundled into the backseat of cars, tied onto the roof of a minibus taxi or encouraged across a busy mini-section in the city where hundreds are sold on street corners.
Families across the west African country have tightened their belts to lay out the hefty sum required to buy the animal, with the cheapest — and smallest — sheep coming in at around 50 euros, the average monthly salary.
While banks offer special Tabaski loans, organisations go all out to donate free sheep to needy families.
“It is the Quran which recommends that each individual, each adult believer who has the means, must slaughter a sheep. It is obligatory,” said Imam Aliou Cisse of the Grand Mosque of Sacre Coeur.
Sheep are Senegalese dogs
However no one should be excluded from the sacrificial meal and anyone unable to afford a sheep “is obliged to call on his family for meat.”
While the animal plays an important religious role, the Kharbii competition shows the sheep is also a much-loved pet.
There is even a Facebook group where men coo over each photographed animal, endlessly discussing its merits.
According to organiser Bathily “eight houses out of 10 have sheep and in fact, sheep are Senegalese dogs. They love their sheep and it is not just for Tabaski. The sheep are even named.”
Keeping sheep in the house, at the foot of the stairs or on the roof, protects the inhabitants from “black magic”, says Bathily.
Deep connection between men and sheep
For men it is also a status symbol: “Having a big sheep is like having a big car, you want to impress your neighbourhood and your friends.”
The animals are kept gleaming white with regular baths in the sea. It is a common site at popular beaches to have a group of boys leading a bleating sheep into the ocean to be scrubbed clean.
Back at the competition finals, Assane Diop speaks on behalf of Gora Diokhane from Rufisque whose ram Magal is also a finalist.
He describes the relationship between a man and his sheep as “very complex”.
“Maybe some people see a sheep as an animal to eat or slaughter. But we breeders see it as a pet. There is a very strong love that links a breeder and his ram, his ewe, his lamb. It is indescribable,” says Assane Diop.
When a group of men get together to discuss sheep, lineage and breeding, it can get “very passionate”, he laughs.
In the small arena, the hot late afternoon air choking with dust, the sheep perform their final parade. The crowd goes wild as one by one the finalists enter the area.
Hamza, like his owner Mohamed — who wears a sleeveless black T-shirt that hugs his muscles, low-slung jeans, a cap and a chequered scarf casually tossed around his shoulders — has swagger.
But despite his convincing strut, he does not make the top three and it is Magal from Rufisque who is crowned the best-looking sheep in all of Senegal. — Sapa-AFP