Sacrifices

The following images show animal sacrifice therefore consider yourself warned. 

If you can't sacrifice your own sheep or ram, you can buy one up here. Conditions in which the animals are kept, are not that good. Animals are also under constant stress since every minute there are sheep being slaughtered in open areas.

The view behind the hedge reminds the holocaust or the massacres of ISIS. Hundreds of animals get slaughtered each day and all their innards are just thrown down there. It smells like death and God knows what happens after Sunday when people leave the holy shrine for another year. I guess there begins the vultures feast.

The ritual demands blood and that you shall slaughter your own animal. That means no one feels responsible for the mess they leave behind. On the other hand, even if they want to clean up the mess, there are no garbage bins or whatever. Irresponsibility begins from the local government.



An artistic impression of the situation.



Someone slaughtered a lamb at the shrine's inner yard, on the east side. Maybe you must face the rising sun before you do the deed... Maybe, deep inside our subconsciousness, sun is the one true god.

The Shrine of Abbas Ali

[caption id="attachment_2361" align="alignnone" width="660"] Shrine of Abbas ibn Ali[/caption]

This is the top of Mount Tomorr, the Partisan's Peak, the Shrine of Abbas Ibn Ali. The shrine has a tomb inside but Abbas wasn't buried there. He is actually buried at that ground where he fell from his horse in Karbalā, Iraq. The tomb is covered by gifts, clothes and money. It is said that the money that gets collected up here and down at the holy ground (look my previous posts), is transported via helicopter (needs citation, I have no source besides word of mouth). I suppose it goes to the Bektashis Community but I don't have further info on how it is spent. Never heard them financing anything but then again, never heard them living la vida loca either.

The weather is clear, the air is cold, I guess some 5-10 degrees Celsius. The people are not wearing heavy clothes because down the mountain is quite hot. They just visit the shrine for a couple of minutes.

[caption id="attachment_2359" align="alignnone" width="660"] Abbas ibn Ali[/caption]

Here is the statue of Abbas ibn Ali, on his horse and with two children (the other one is behind the horse's head). The statue's size is lifelike. The sculptor must have been on acid I guess. look them eyes :D The statue is also seen on the far left of the next photo.

[caption id="attachment_2360" align="alignnone" width="660"] Praying[/caption]

The people here are burning candles and praying for their loved ones, dead or alive. Although Albanians don't pray much on their dead, it isn't our custom. We pray for health and money (Albanian: Shnet e Pare).

As you can see, the parking place is not a parking actually. The road ends here and cars are parked on both sides of the road. When you step out of the car, if anyone approaches you to ask for money for parking, don't pay. You can give money if you want someone to look after your car not to get scratched (accidentally) or blocked by other cars (due to small space) but this is entirely up to you. There might be beggars as well, I wonder how they get up here. Perhaps they collect enough money to pay the ride which is fairly expensive.

Trip to Baba Tomor - Part 2

[caption id="attachment_2322" align="alignnone" width="660"] Tomorr[/caption]

I've been quite a few times in Berat and this time I avoided taking photos, I was again on the wheel. Here is a gigapan photo, the most detailed one you could ever find. After Berat there is Polican, a small city famous for its ammunition factory, hence the nickname Ghost Town. We used to produce there Kalashnikov - Made In Albania... Polican is surrounded by nature, is quite small and very quiet. If you're driving with a small car, you should definitely park here because the road to the top of the mountain is very very very rocky. We managed to rent a Land Rover Defender for some 120$ to take us to the pilgrimage site on Saturday morning and then come back Sunday morning to take us to the top of the mountain (2,416M) and then back to Polican. We found the driver through a common friend so the price may not be the normal rate they charge for the exact service. However, it is impossible to find cheaper than that. They usually charge 90$ only for a round trip to the pilgrimage site (which is midway to the top).