Ammon News - ANKARA - Muslims in Turkey thronged into mosques and joined the practice of sacrificing animals on Tuesday to celebrate the annual Muslim Eid al-Adha festival.

At the Kocatepe Mosque, the biggest mosque in Turkish capital Ankara, thousands of people knelt down towards the direction of the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday morning, praying and listening to the peace messages delivered by the imam.

According to the Muslim tradition, every adult Muslim who can afford it should sacrifice an animal or have it done by a butcher during the Eid al-Adha festival. People then keep some of the meat at home to eat and hand out the rest to their neighbors and relatives, especially the poor and needy.

Killing of the animals is forbidden in cities in Turkey and takes place in designated butcheries, where sheep and cattle are chosen by customers and sacrificed.

A 50 kg sheep usually produces 25 kg of meat and the other parts, including the skin and internal organs, are collected by the local administration and distributed to dealers, said Ejder Baykal, who has been working at a butchery in Ankara for years.

In the countryside, where the practice of sacrifice is not restricted, people can kill the animals and divide the meat at their backyards. Many favor going to rural markets where animals are purchased and brought home or butchered on the site.

At a rural market near Ankara, customers gathering there made parking space scarce on Tuesday morning. Some carried the animals home with their vehicles, while others found an available spot nearby and made the sacrifice together with their family members. After the sheep or cattle were put to the blade, some parents touched the forehead of their children with blood for blessing.

Muslims in Turkey behave very hospitable during the festival celebration. Villager Hasan Oktay learned that we are Chinese journalists while he was buying drinks in the market, he invited us to visit his house.

His family was just together for the celebration when we arrived, men were dealing with the newly killed cattle, women were cooking the beef which was just cut, and children were kissing elder's hand to their respect. Hasan's wife asked us to try some beef at the same time and children watched us curiously and excitedly.

Each sheep was sold for between 500 Turkish lira (about 350 U.S. dollars) and 650 Turkish lira and a cattle for 3,000-5,000 Turkish lira, according to butchery workers.

The four-day Eid al-Adha festival falls on the tenth day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar. The Eid al-Adha, also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice, marks the end of the spiritual peak of the annual pilgrimage or Hajj in Arabic, when pilgrims descend from the Hill of Arafat to the nearby Mecca.

Turkey has announced a nine-day holiday for this year's Eid al- Adha festival, lasting from Nov. 13 to 21.

* Xinhua