Village celebrations

Elena and I arrived in Senegal on May 14 and unfortunately we missed Chethana, our intern who had just left that morning. She has done tremendous work for us but more importantly she has a special place in the hearts of those she’s met. Her Senegalese “family” will never forget her, and even after a week, Diko, just two years old was overheard telling other kids that Chethana was in her room sleeping.

Over the weekend we went off to Mbousnakh, the first village in Senegal we’ve come to love. It was really exciting because all in one day there was a wedding celebration, a baptism, and a march to the cemetary to celebrate the end of a mourning period. Every 100 meters or so on our walk to the cemetary the leaders who played the tom toms would stop and the crowd would form a circle around them leaving a space for anyone who wanted to dance. When we arrived at the grave, which was only a slightly upraised rectangular mound of dirt , the mourners started clapping their hands while others danced and sang to the constant beat of the tom toms. Sweat glistened from everyone, it was 107.6°F! It seemed that the closer family members danced in cirlces around the grave and tiny biscuits and leaves were sprinkled over the it. When they thought it was enough, the crowd slowly dispersed and people started heading back to the village to join in the other ceremonies which were already in full swing.

The marriage actually took place two years ago, but the festivity celebrated the woman leaving her village and moving in with her husband who was now ready to live with her, in other words, the room was finally ready. The preparation of the “bride” was an amazing event to watch. It took over two hours with two hair dressers and make-up artists working non stop in deep concentration. At the end, she seemed all fake. Senegalese women are very beautiful, naturally! DJ’s with their fully equipped sound systems played Senegalese music, raggae and other hits, one DJ was near the groom’s house and the other in a different area to celebrate the baptism.