Weekend Reflections

On Friday most Muslims celebrated Tabaski by killing a sheep in commemoration of the sacrifice of Abraham --- I say most because some performed the sacrifice on Thursday based on the sighting of the new moon. This was my first time to watch a sheep be sacrificed and it was interesting to watch how submissive it acted before its death. The father of the house performs the act with the assistance of his sons while the women and younger children prepare the onion sauce and grill the fresh meat. I have never seen as much meat as I saw on Friday, even a street lady I passed by had a large metal bowl full of meat others had given to her. The family below me killed two large sheep and spent a few hours skinning and chopping up the meat. I hadn't thought about how much work is involved, it's actually not a very restful day. A couple of my neighbors gave me meat and one piece of meat still had sheep hair on it. I decided to put the meat in my freezer for later...wish I appreciated fresh meat more...

Later in the day after the main meal, children get all dressed up in new clothes and visit neighbors. (My camera is broken so I don't have pics right now, but will have some later from my 35mm.) Not just neighbor kids asked me for money but random kids on the street. In some ways it is no different from any other day, just more accepted on Tabaski and they are dressed up. One of my friends told me she walked by two ladies with tied scarves stretched across a walkway and as she was about to walk past the ladies tightened the scarves for her to have to step over. They wanted her to pay a toll for walking by, but she didn't know and kept walking. I'm not sure the origin of this but it's common on Tabaski.

I spent the rest of Friday and a good portion of Saturday at a sleep over with girls, around my age, from the evangelical church near my house. More than anything it brought to the surface my personal and cultural disposition, such as not loving sleep overs the way I use to when I was younger. I wasn't anticipating the event to go until 2 in the afternoon on Saturday and was ready to leave soon after I woke up. I get restless easily if I have to stay in the same place for a while and don't feel like I can leave. Partly, I was not always interested in what was happening, for example when we had a discussion time on Proverbs 31 and focused primarily on the importance of keeping a house orderly when we get married. I'm going to try to continue to be involved at some level with this group and hopeful learn ways I can connect with these girls...

I've been reflecting lately on how much I miss the holiday season and how it's hard for me to get into the joy of the season here. Here, it is more a day event, than a whole month. It's interesting because even Muslims celebrate it by doing something special with their family. It's depressing though because the Christmas that has been imported is of a jolie Père Noël and his winter wonderland which has no connection to the local context of the Sahel. I hope this Christmas season has been special for you with it centered on the celebration of the birth of Jesus, our Savior. Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël!