Senegal is awash with rams — stunning, immaculately groomed specimens, each with its own name and colorful, custom-made collar and tinkling sheep bell.
Everywhere you go, you hear "baa, baa" — sheep in their dozens, or alone, bleating from up above on a veranda or in a specially created enclosure in a backyard.
Many of the rams are bathed lovingly in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, on the fringes of the capital, Dakar. The sheep are fed the best of everything and proudly paraded up and down the beaches.
There is a dual purpose. Dakar and other cities are preparing for Friday's Muslim holy day, Eid al-Adha — or Tabaski, as it's known all over West Africa — marking the celebration when Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son.
Religion And Culture
Media impresario Marianne Bathily explains the link between religion, the Quran, the Old Testament and the Senegalese fondness for sheep.
"Sheep is a sacred animal. When Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son to prove his faith, the ram — the magic animal — appeared and sacrificed itself in place of Abraham's son," Bathily says. "So, this ultimate sacrifice is the reason why here in Senegal, we believe that having a sheep in the house is protecting the house. It is protecting us from bad spirits. And the sheep will always sacrifice itself instead of us."
Senegal's love of sheep got Bathily thinking a few years ago that she had the ready-made ingredients for a Senegalese-style reality show: American Idol or X-Factor — featuring sheep.
"One day it just hit me [that] there is dog competition [or] cat competition in America or Europe, so we must have our own — our sheep competition, because this is what we like," she says.
Bathily grew up around sheep in her family compound, and talks passionately and engagingly about them.
"Here in Senegal, sheep and rams are our pets, you know," she says. "In Europe or U.S., you find dogs and cats in many homes. Here in Senegal — in 8 houses out of 10 — there are sheep and rams."
Idea For The Contest