Welcome to the CHALOR (hot season in french)
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Materi,
Benin
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Hello everyone!!!
Jason just dropped into town for a quick trip to the bank and left rebecca basking in the heat of Materi. This is actually probably a relief for Rebecca because it means she doesn't have to share a bed with anyone in a 90+ room at night. The thermometer that we bought seems stuck at 100 during the day. At night it does drop to a very brisk 90 degrees outside, however our cinderblock house seems to have an unbelieveable RF insulation value and keeps things cozy for most of the night.
Well besides the heat everything else is going pretty well in Materi. Rebecca just finished this months "Tour de baby weighing" around materi. Every month there are certain villages way out in the bush that her and her work partner go visit and weigh babies and give nutrional consultations. She makes it sound like work but I think there out there pinching all the cute babies' cheeks. She says that most of the babies don't seem to notice her very much be occasionally there's one that hollars with either terror or delight at the sight of her white skin and red hair. Both of us have experienced people comming up to us with petrified kids asking us to hold them so the child will get over the fear of or just used to White folk. The attempt is usually futile and we've probablly permanently scared our fair share of little ones. Oh well... All in a day's work I say.
We were able to take part in a couple of interesting festivals these past couple of weeks. Dassibou (our good friend how takes care of us) and his family were celibrating the year anniversary of his father's death. His father was one of the oldest of the wise men when he died so he is/was very well respected. But before I tell you about the celebration I'll give you a brief explanation of the events following a death in Materi. At the time an elder dies there is a great party. We've recently seen a large group of people singing and dancing thier way down the street with the covered and wrapped corps being carried on several of the people's shoulders. They take the body to the cemetary and there they bury the body to the sounds of singing, dancing and large wooden drum called "tam-tams". Appearently the older the person is when they die the larger the party and the more drums are brought to the celebration. If the person is young (less than 50 or there abouts) it is a much more somber event (no drums and no celebration). So after they bury the person they pretty much continue the celebration long into the night and depending on how well respected the individual was it can last multiple days. The tam-tams are about the size of an old wooden barrel and are made of antelope hides and large tree trunks (enter environment vs culture debate here). They are carried by a rope over a persons shoulder and are plaied on their sides. Either because of their weight or just for the fun of it the men of the village take turns (this looks a lot like when someone cuts in on a person dancing... a tap on the shoulder a nod to say your times up and then the hand off) at beating out the various rhythms. The women during this are dancing to the beat and are either whooping their praise for the beat or gesturing their dissaproval. There of course are the women selling the local millet beer in large gords or pots everywhere and they are pretty much a standard at any gathering. The vast majoriety of people are so happy to see us there sharing and interacting in thier celebrations. We've NEVER experienced someone comming up to us saying we didn't belong and everyone is always so excited that the americans are there with them.
After a year goes by (in our friend's case) the widows (there were two wives) shave thier head to show the end of thier morning and the children throw another big party. We were expecting a big celebration and we weren't dissapointed in the size. It was huge and people were completely surrounding his house and there was also a large market setup to keep everyone well satisfied. We were a little dissapointed that instead of the cultural dancing and singing there was a large sterio system set up and the very popular and very modern dance music was broadcast throughout the city (there are no noise ordineces in africa). The culturally interesting events took place around 1 or 2 in the morning when each wife retired to her appropriate house and this was followed by people parading down an ilse lined with people and presenting the women with gifts ranging from cash, wine, food, soap, etc... The women didn't acknowledge these gifts and a helper quickly swept up the gifts and put them inside so that the large basin (where the gifts were placed) was kept empty. We were told by a friend that later on the wives would get together and compare to see which one was liked better by the community. We're not sure but we think that our friends mom won but we didn't get any statistics. We left the part early (2-3 am) and Dassibou told us later that he didn't get to sleep till 7pm the next evening. I don't know how they do it but these people definately leave room in their lives to party. The mother in our concession was there with her little one until 1am and was up at dawn just like everyother day. There was also a school teacher there who told us he was going to stay til dawn and then go home, rest, and then teach his class at 10am. CRAZYNESS!!!!
So after this big festival the following year there is even a bigger party that is considered the actual funeral. Dassibou told us that next year for his father's funeral will probably be around 3-4 days of activities. HOpefully there will be some more traditional dancing and singing. Whenever we come across a group of women singing and dancing it is just so cool to be there and just watch. We've decided that this singing and dancing is one of the only times the women get a chance to let loose and interact without the men interfearing. So it is a special event when viewed.
So after all of this maybe we now know where the New Orleans idea of the jazz band leading the funeral procession came from.
On a lighter side of things, Jason has been having some amazeing food dreams, only to wake up and realize that he is not in the states and those dreams will have to be put on hold. On an extreamly hot night, Jason drempt that he was at home in chespeake and he just opens both the refrigerator and freezer doors and just stands there letting the cold air waft over him. His mom comes in and asks him what he's doing and he has to peel his eyes off the ice piled high in the ice-maker and says to her "You just don't understand!!!" There was also a dream of rebecca, her friend stephine, and I visiting a gourmet food court with so many amazeingly wonderful choises that by the time I decided on a stuffed pizza pie the kitten was waking me up and I never got to find out just how good that pizza tasted. I repeat... You guys back there just don't understand!!!!
Speaking of kittens we now have a brand new 7 week old who should be chasing mice as I speak but more likely she's curled up in Rebecca's lap enjoying life and enjoying her favorite past time, napping. She sleeps all the time except between 5 and 6 in the morning when she likes to wake us up by clawing on our mosquito net. Ah the life with cats. Well I'd better go Hope everything is well with everyone back in the states. Keep the emails comming and we'll talk to you probably in mid march.
Love,
Jason and Rebecca
