Showing posts with label Tabaski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tabaski. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
There's Blood Everywhere!!!! My First Tabaski
So Tabaski has come and gone, and today we get one more day to chilax until back to school tomorrow (thank God!) It was quite an interesting day.
In the morning the men went to the mosque and the women stayed to clean. There was much cleaning. So after I stopped being lazy I got up and began to help with the cleaning. We cleaned EVERYTHING. The floor upstairs is really large. I mopped it and the stairs and the outside stairs which doesn't even make sense to me because they're outside and they get dirty again sooo fast. After that Madame Ndaw said I could take my shower and when I opened my door I noticed this outfit on the bed. I was like omg look at this outfit! It was just there, laying on the bed waiting for me. That was one of the best things ever. So I took a shower and put it on then had breakfast. As I was eating, near the back door, I noticed some commotion happening outside and I looked up and saw the goat standing on its hind legs. I was like, "oh snap, it's time!" And I freaked out and ran towards the front of the house. Then I heard the kids around the house yelling and I started yelling a little. The backdoor opened and it was Yankhoba, restraining the dog on a leash. That's why there were scared. Turns out they aren't really scared of the killing of the goat. They see it every year but I couldn't watch the actually killing. I peeked outside from the living room and could see that there was blood every where. My little sister Aida was just watching them on the couch like it was a tv show. I tried to go sit in my room but eventually little Mohammad came and pulled me outside. That little boy is sooo bad.
Madame Ndaw and the girls were cutting up vegetables on one side of the back outside area while the goat was being skinned on the other. I didn't think it was right but I sat down to help make the seasoning, then cut up some cucumbers and potatoes. I couldn't help but think how delicious it was going to taste when it was all done. I tried not to look while they skinned and cut up the poor animal, except to take a few pictures...
First around 12 we had a snack of smoked ribs and fries. Really delicious I have to admit. I had a bit of liver too and I have to say I've never eaten liver before because I didn't want to, but I find myself doing so many new things here, and I liked it.
Around 2 or 3 we had lunch, goat with fries, onion sauce and bread. The first part of the day is all for family. After 5, you put on your very expensive tailor made Tabaski outfit and visit friends. One of my good friends here came to see me and I went with him to visit his aunt, then we went to the Kanes residence and finally to his house where we spent the rest of the evening.
It was overall a good day. Check out the pictures on the next post!
In the morning the men went to the mosque and the women stayed to clean. There was much cleaning. So after I stopped being lazy I got up and began to help with the cleaning. We cleaned EVERYTHING. The floor upstairs is really large. I mopped it and the stairs and the outside stairs which doesn't even make sense to me because they're outside and they get dirty again sooo fast. After that Madame Ndaw said I could take my shower and when I opened my door I noticed this outfit on the bed. I was like omg look at this outfit! It was just there, laying on the bed waiting for me. That was one of the best things ever. So I took a shower and put it on then had breakfast. As I was eating, near the back door, I noticed some commotion happening outside and I looked up and saw the goat standing on its hind legs. I was like, "oh snap, it's time!" And I freaked out and ran towards the front of the house. Then I heard the kids around the house yelling and I started yelling a little. The backdoor opened and it was Yankhoba, restraining the dog on a leash. That's why there were scared. Turns out they aren't really scared of the killing of the goat. They see it every year but I couldn't watch the actually killing. I peeked outside from the living room and could see that there was blood every where. My little sister Aida was just watching them on the couch like it was a tv show. I tried to go sit in my room but eventually little Mohammad came and pulled me outside. That little boy is sooo bad.
Madame Ndaw and the girls were cutting up vegetables on one side of the back outside area while the goat was being skinned on the other. I didn't think it was right but I sat down to help make the seasoning, then cut up some cucumbers and potatoes. I couldn't help but think how delicious it was going to taste when it was all done. I tried not to look while they skinned and cut up the poor animal, except to take a few pictures...
First around 12 we had a snack of smoked ribs and fries. Really delicious I have to admit. I had a bit of liver too and I have to say I've never eaten liver before because I didn't want to, but I find myself doing so many new things here, and I liked it.
Around 2 or 3 we had lunch, goat with fries, onion sauce and bread. The first part of the day is all for family. After 5, you put on your very expensive tailor made Tabaski outfit and visit friends. One of my good friends here came to see me and I went with him to visit his aunt, then we went to the Kanes residence and finally to his house where we spent the rest of the evening.
It was overall a good day. Check out the pictures on the next post!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tabaski Preparation
Today the streets will run red with the blood of hundreds of goats who will be slaughtered as a symbol of Abraham's sacrifice. Yes, the bleating of goats was heard all yesterday and it will be heard all morning, but all at once, in one moment it will stop. And we will eat...
It's Tabaski time!!!!!!
Tabaski is the holiday that celebrates Abraham's commitment to God by his willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac. (Some say it was his son Ishmael). Just as he was about to finish the deed, God stopped him and he saw a ram caught in the bushes so sacrificed that instead. It's a very big deal here. There is much feasting and people will be dressed in fantastic wonderful clothing. Now I couldn't afford the expensive material and the tailor so my outfit will not look quite like that.
I did however, find myself caught up in the materialism/commercialism that overshadows all holidays, no matter how pure they start. Tabaski is two days after Thanksgiving, and coincidently though I wasn't in America, I still had a "black Friday." We went en ville (downtown) to go shopping for shoes and for the life of me I could not find the perfect pair. Well, I did but I wasn't willing to pay 10,000 CFA for them. My budget was 3,000 CFA so you can see the 7,000 CFA difference. It was so sad. We went en ville, somewhere else and somewhere else and I just could not find the shoes at a price I wanted so I went home upset and angry because my outfit is not going to be fly with the perfect golden shoes and my outfit is not grand and excessive.
Now why should I care so much about a holiday I've never even heard of much less celebrated before I came here three months ago (it seems so long)??? Because universally, Christian or Muslim or whatever, I like to look fly and I don't know many people who don't. And when in Rome do what the Romans do.
But I suppose I can appreciate the religious value of Tabaski. I mean I do believe in Abraham and that he almost sacrificed his son--Isaac--for God. Actually made me wonder why Christians don't celebrate Tabaski. Well, it's probably best we don't, because I already have to worry about finding the perfect outfit for Easter, I don't need another holiday to do that to me when I go back to the states. :)
It's Tabaski time!!!!!!
Tabaski is the holiday that celebrates Abraham's commitment to God by his willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac. (Some say it was his son Ishmael). Just as he was about to finish the deed, God stopped him and he saw a ram caught in the bushes so sacrificed that instead. It's a very big deal here. There is much feasting and people will be dressed in fantastic wonderful clothing. Now I couldn't afford the expensive material and the tailor so my outfit will not look quite like that.
I did however, find myself caught up in the materialism/commercialism that overshadows all holidays, no matter how pure they start. Tabaski is two days after Thanksgiving, and coincidently though I wasn't in America, I still had a "black Friday." We went en ville (downtown) to go shopping for shoes and for the life of me I could not find the perfect pair. Well, I did but I wasn't willing to pay 10,000 CFA for them. My budget was 3,000 CFA so you can see the 7,000 CFA difference. It was so sad. We went en ville, somewhere else and somewhere else and I just could not find the shoes at a price I wanted so I went home upset and angry because my outfit is not going to be fly with the perfect golden shoes and my outfit is not grand and excessive.
Now why should I care so much about a holiday I've never even heard of much less celebrated before I came here three months ago (it seems so long)??? Because universally, Christian or Muslim or whatever, I like to look fly and I don't know many people who don't. And when in Rome do what the Romans do.
But I suppose I can appreciate the religious value of Tabaski. I mean I do believe in Abraham and that he almost sacrificed his son--Isaac--for God. Actually made me wonder why Christians don't celebrate Tabaski. Well, it's probably best we don't, because I already have to worry about finding the perfect outfit for Easter, I don't need another holiday to do that to me when I go back to the states. :)
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