Sheep Head

Twice a year I would take a small group of businesspeople with me to Kyrgyzstan, and we would be there from 2-3 weeks. It was a difficult journey into Central Asia 30 years ago as the flights on Aeroflot were not reliable and they were often delayed for hours. Once we had to wait in the old (now destroyed) Domodedovo domestic airport in Moscow for 18 hours because of fog. We were cooped up in the “Intourist” section where they made all foreigners stay to separate us from the Soviet citizens.

On several occasions our hosts, who were Kyrgyz government officials, would take us on what they called a picnic. They would load up a big military truck that was packed with huge tents (in case it rained), big cooking pots, tables, and lots of chairs. There was usually a party of 30-40 people who would be at these picnics, and only half that number were the guests. The rest were the food preparers and servers. Of course, there was lots of food to pack including the live sheep that we would later be eating.

After the caravan of cars and truck had arrived at the “perfect picnic spot,” chairs were set up quickly for the dignitaries and their guests to watch the ceremonies that followed.

The picnic spot was usually along a mountain stream so they would have ready access to water. First off, a couple of men killed the ram and butchered it. The head was tossed into the fire to burn away the hair.

The first course was soup which we ate while the rest of the sheep was being prepared. The sheep head was split enough to remove the brains, and that was the main ingredient of the broth. More about the rest of the sheep head later.

Tables were set and covered with brightly colored cloths, and dinnerware was set on the tables which were in the shape of a “U.” As the leader of the American delegation, I was given the seat at the right of the highest-ranking government official. Over the next couple hours, food in abundance was served. Every part of the sheep but the hooves was cooked and eaten.

After everyone was stuffed, there was somewhat of a ritual. Since ancient times, Kyrgyz considered the head of a sheep as a sign of respect, so I was not surprised when they would place the head on a platter and set it in front of me. The only thing they served with the sheep’s head was “boorsok,” delicious small pieces of fried bread that are always served when visiting in someone’s home.

The honored guest’s job was to cut pieces from the sheep head and give each individual around the table a piece. I actually loved doing this because the custom was for the honored guest to give a blessing, a proverb, or some words of wisdom as he served a piece of the sheep’s head to each person. This gave me the opportunity to talk about our relationship with God and actually allowed me to give testimony to my faith.

I would carve a piece of the sheep’s lip and say to the recipient, “May the words of your mouth be spoken to bring glory to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.” I would cut a piece of the ear and talk about hearing the word of God and living out those words in our lives to honor the Lord. Likewise, a piece of the cheek would be accompanied with a comment about turning the other cheek when one is offended. It was a fun time, and the honored guest was in control of the conversations.

At last the host would take a small knife and remove the eyeballs from the sheep's head. One of the eyeballs he placed on the plate of the guest of honor, and he placed the other one on his plate. I never liked the next step of the sheep head ritual.

The host would pick up the eyeball and then he would ask me to do the same. While holding the eyeball in his fingers he would wave his hands around while talking and give me a blessing. Then, it was time to conclude the ritual by eating the eyeballs.

That’s an occasion when you don’t want to chew—you just swallow and reach for some bread to chase it down.

I was a pro at eating strange things because we had spent so much time in West Africa. But I always uttered a quick prayer that went like this: Lord, my job is to get it down and your job is to keep it down. Amen.