Holiday Season

It has been four months since I last posted an update- 1/3 of my year!- since then, the rainy season has come and gone, Carl visited and stayed a bit longer than planned, malaria season hit in full force and is on its way out with the end of the cultivating season, and I hosted some of the newest Health PCVs at my site to give them a feel of the work and life here in Burkina.

The market before the holidays had the familiar excitement of the Christmas Eve rush

 

Amongst all these events was Ramadan and Tabaski. Just as Christians have two main holidays, these are two big days for Muslims. Celebrating these two “fetes” with my town made one particular contrast between American culture and Burkinabe culture incredibly evident. It wasn't what we did that was so different, both cultures' holidays consist of going to pray, followed by making outrageous amounts of food, and ending the day with eating, socializing and relaxing. Same, right?

Mariam, a nurse at the clinic, took me with her son, Mohammed, to the morning prayer. She helped me out by lending the outfit for the day

 

The flow of the day being the same, what surprised me how was identical Ramadan and Tabaski were to each other. Our culture is so saturated with stories and symbols that beyond the basic components of prayer and food, the food, music, icons, and color schemes mark the days as completely unique events in our year. It wasn't as if I didn't know how commercialized our holidays are- and this isn't a bashing commercialization of holidays post, all the flare and what not is fun- I just hadn't appreciated how massive of an entity we had created when celebrating holidays until seeing something so extremely opposite.

Maybe it seems tactless to be taking photos during the ceremony? And it does still make me feel awkward whipping out a camera, but a quick photo is really not invasive or rude. One time during a funeral, I looked over and realized people had their cameras out, sitting there, just filming me.

The men during the ceremony



After the prayer, a couple old men stood together under a sheet to continue to pray. I liked it because the image reminded me of kid's parachute game



And I've realized its not just our holidays. Compared to Burkinabe, Americans place symbolic meaning on some many things. The English professor at the high school told me how he learned Americans put a meaning to everything; he explained how colors are just colors here, but to Americans red isn't just red, it means passion, anger, fire. As he explains, I think “Duh, I mean it's red , what else could it mean?”

 

Making food with Mariam, her son and her "petite" (petites tend to be tweens that come to live with extended family members that help out with house chores)

 

 

So, after prayer and food prep with Mariam, I made my rounds visiting different friends. At every house, I would receive HUGE portions of noodles (noodles here are also way overcooked in our standards; they put noodles, water, oil in a pot, and then just cook it until all the liquid is gone, so they seem soggy and mushy) that are saturated with palm oil and magi-salty sauce. After feeling forced to each so much at each visit, this is gross, but it was the first time I got home, was sick to me stomach, and actually threw up for literally eating too much food. Food is not a highlight of life here in Burkina.

 

So here is a blending of photos from the two days to capture what holidays are like here, since, unlike the oddities that would arise if I tried to seem together a day of Christmas, 4^th of July, and St. Patrick's Day events, the two days were actually exactly the same

 

Friend's husband with their son. Check out the matching outfits: they're called uniform. A family picks a pagne (fabric) pattern and get outfits made together for the event. People make uniforms for weddings, someone's trip to Mecca, and holidays. 

And I just realized this post is in time for rush of holiday season back home. I tried to make the most of missing all the Halloween fun by giving candy to the clinic staff and explaining what we do on Halloween (took me by surprise how hard it was: we dress up as animals, skeletons, princesses, witches, eat candy, watch scary movies... there was no rhyme or reason to my explanation making the day sound really odd), letting myself gourge by buying two “gateaus” cakes (they're a delicious cross between the fried goodness of funnel cakes and chewiness of a doughnut- AMAZING), and invited a friend over to watch Hocus Pocus with me at night. Thanksgiving is around the corner and will be a mini-reunion for my stage in the capital.... then... HOME for Christmas and New Years! Enjoy the holidays, I'm thinking of you all, and see you soon :D

 

 

 

Visiting two of my favorite friends in village, Risnata and Awa