Thursday, January 4, 2007

Happy New Year! Kaa Yeesi!

Here, New Year’s coincided with the Tabaski festival of the Muslim faith.
Thus, it offers me the occasion to wish you all best wishes of health, wealth, and happiness. Along with that, sambe sambe! Kaa yeesi! Happy New Year! Everyone wished me well likewise, for Tabaski and the New Year are times to pardon, start over, and renew.
The first of three days, my family went to the mosque. They prayed in unison for themselves, their families, and world peace. Muslims believe that this is the time when God hears their prayers and pardons them. According to my host-father, this is why Sadaam was executed on the first day of Tabaski. After they felt sufficiently pardoned, they returned home to slaughter sheep.
My family slaughtered three sheep. First, the slit the throats and let the blood flow out neatly into one pool. The two of the old women of my family, my host father’s mother and her sister, prepared the hole where the sheep would be barbecued while the men skinned the sheep. The third old woman of the family, a Tomachek, took the skins to stretch and dry in the sun. Skins like these become prayer mats, water jugs, bags, milk and butter churns, etc. Nothing goes to waste.
When all the internal organs had been removed, the sheep were put in the fire to roast all day. The young men of the family took the livers, lungs, kidneys, hearts, intestines, everything to grill and eat with hot peppers. I was amused when two of the little ones took the intestines and played tug of war. The family gave me an entire liver to eat. At least I am not at risk to go anemic!! My neighbors also brought meat to share with me. Liver with pasta from the Bambaras, a rack of ribs from the other Sonrai family nearby…and still my family served me Arabic couscous for lunch!! My homologue sent over more couscous in the later afternoon, and when I went to her house to watch New Year festivities on TV, she served me more couscous.
Aside from eating, we chatted.
My host father explained that every year they slaughter sheep to represent the faith of Abraham and his willingness to even sacrifice his son Isaac. Laughing, he said they believe humanity would end if we went around slaughtering our sons! Just think, he would not be here if his father did sacrifice a sheep! True, true. I told him the same story is in the Bible. He did not believe me. Always, I have conversations about Christians versus Muslims (and Jews though most do not know this faith). At least in Mali such exchanges are peaceful.
The latter two days of the “fête” (“Cibsi” in Sonrai), I went to church to hear a sermon on the efficacy of a single Lamb of God to pardon sins (slightly backhanded approach to illegitimizing the purpose of Tabaski); I danced “takamba,” a traditional Sonrai circle dance in the town square; I tried to avoid the children who whenever they yelled “sambe sambe” at me I suppose to give them “jingar gorro” or kola nuts, which have been long replaced by giving coins. Of course, I also continued to eat meat meat and more meat. Ribs, mutton stew, sheep jerky…all must be consumed or preserved! I rang in the New Year in a food coma, glad there would be no work at the hospital for a few days!

Disclaimer

All tales, opinions, and attitudes are those Joanna has experienced and subsequently composed. This Blog does not reflect the ideas or policies of the U.S. Peace Corps, its employees and volunteers, at large.