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I'm not Jewish, so please forgive me if my question sounds ignorant.

I was researching the practice of Kaparot when I came across the following website:

Indeed, even when Maran [Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef] zt”l served as the head of all Batei Din in Egypt, he would make sure to go to where the Kaparot were being held as well as to the place where a similar custom was observed in Egypt on the Shavuot holiday using geese. Maran would walk around among the slaughterers and check their knives and watch them carefully so that they would be careful with their work and not, G-d-forbid, feed non-kosher to fellow Jews. There were several times where he encountered actual danger to his life because of his multiple comments and criticism of slaughterers and butchers in the city; indeed, there were three attempts made on Maran zt”l’s life and he was saved in a miraculous manner each time.

http://halachayomit.co.il/en/default.aspx?HalachaID=2189

Having never heard of this particular custom, I tried googling it, but I was unable to find any other references to it. What exactly is it, and where can I find more information about it?

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I was born and raised in Egypt. I am not sure what you are asking, but let me say this. Sephardic Jews differ somewhat from Ashkenazic Jews in that they eat both dairy and meat on Shavuot. Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, whom you mention and who used to be Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, wrote in 1964:

Our custom is to eat some dairy and after rinsing out our mouths we eat meat. It is a mitzvah to eat meat on Yom Tov to fulfill the obligation of being happy on the holiday, because there is no happiness unless there is meat!

So the meat meal follows the milk meal. Geese were plentiful and eaten often. These two meals represent the two loaves of bread, formerly offered in the "bikkurim", or “first fruits”, offering at the Temple service on Shavuot.

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  • "Geese were plentiful and eaten often." But how were they slaughtered? Was there a custom similar to Kaparot?
    – user16888
    May 3, 2019 at 18:46
  • @7MessRobHackOpen -- I assume they were slaughtered the same way as other fowl.
    – Maurice Mizrahi
    May 3, 2019 at 19:18
  • So as far as you are aware there was no custom similar to Kaparot that involved slaughtering geese on Shavuot?
    – user16888
    May 3, 2019 at 19:19
  • @7MessRobHackOpen -- The only custom I am aware of is EATING them on Shavuot.
    – Maurice Mizrahi
    May 3, 2019 at 19:24
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    Could it be that the answer to the question is an extension to what you report? Both during Kaparot and, apparently, before Shavuot, there was a need to schecht a lot of animals in a short amount of time. This can lead to kashrut issues if the slaughterers don't do their work properly.
    – mbloch
    May 5, 2019 at 3:20

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