Baptism

A new colleague, Isseu, has started at Plan. She is lovely and even more excitingly lives opposite me! Small world. She invited me to a family baptism on Saturday. I wore my newly tailored outfit which is now my favourite wardrobe item after the cagoule. I went over to her house about 9.30 so we'd have enough time to get into town where the family live for the baptism at 10am. Here, the Imam comes to the house, says the baby's name into its right ear, recites some prayers and then tells the guests that the baby is called X (in this case, Mohammed) and declares the baby a Muslim. It's all over and done with in 10 minutes.
Apparently.
I didn't actually get to see any of this as Isseu's cousin to so long getting ready, we were an hour late and missed the whole thing! Oh well, made it in time for all the food which I think is the main attraction anyway.

The baby's dad is a doctor at the military hospital so they live in a kind of military barracks (but without any sense of it being part of the army). Arriving at the house, I passed the sheep that had already been slaughtered. Someone was washing away the blood into the drain, while someone else was getting to work skinning the sheep. There is something really special about the killing of the sheep. They are killed quickly and humanely, held by someone as their throat is slit. It's all over pretty quickly and is surprisingly unmessy (apart from during Tabaski, the religious festival where everyone is obliged to slaughter a sheep. In big families, this means killing several to have enough food for the extended family and it turns into a bit of a bloodbath). Pretty much the whole animal is used though and the meat is always delicious because it's so fresh. It used to make me feel queasy but now it's become so frequent as there is always some kind of celebration going on in my quartier, that I find it all fascinating.

The house was packed when we arrived - there must have been at least 75 guests -everyone in their best outfits with all the men in boubous and women with brightly coloured outfits with matching foulars (a type of headdress where people tie a piece of matching material around their head which looks amazing). Isseu had this gorgeous outfit on made from bazin, which is a typical material found here and in Mali. It's made of cotton and dyed in a vibrant colour. It's then beaten with a wooden mallet to make it shine - the best quality material reflects the light so well it almost glows when you catch it in the right light. I would love to have something made but it is really expensive. At least £50 for the material and then another £30 for the tailoring. Apparently people can pay in instalments. Contributing little by little each month until they finally have enought to take it home.

The day started with a bowl of Lakh. This is a bit like Thiakry, but the grains of millet are bigger, and the milk/yoghurt stuff is warm. We had it with honey, raisins and spices too. Like a big bowl of sugary porridge really. Yum. I did think I might pass out at one point though as, already sweating profusely in the heat, hot porridge almost tipped me over the edge!

After several hours of chatting to guests; listening to someone chanting prayers from the Qu'ran in the background; trying to avoid the man with the camera and enormous accompanying flashlight which made you feel like you'd stuck your head in an oven whenever it was pointed in your face; and playing with various kids (including adorable 2 year old triplets!); we finally ate lunch. Tcheboudienne (the usual rice and meat dish) which is one of my favourites. It was amazing going out to the backyard to see the whole cooking operation going on. There was a small fire erected, heating this huge couldron containing 35kg of rice! That is a LOT of rice. There was a whole team of women working on the meal, pounding the garlic and chili with a giant pestle and morter, barbecuing and boiling various bits of meat, and cutting a mountain of cucumbers to make the garnish. I have got to learn how to make this meal.

It was a really lovely day. I was made to feel so welcome and even had to make a speech on the family video. (I'm sure they will wonder who the random foreigner was when they look back at it but anyway...) It's essential here that the baptism happens a week after the baby is born. The mother had had a Caesarean and had only got out of hospital the day before. I can't imagine having a baby, leaving hospital and the next day hosting an enormous party. She looked exhausted. And in pain. Hopefully she was able to relax after everyone left.